Xenoblade X: Interim
by Classic Mecraphone
Summary: The problem with happy endings is that nothing is ever truly over. With the Ganglion under the thumb of a ruthless new leader, and the unpleasant reality of Cross's past being brought to light, NLA's brief moment of peace has ended. Rating: contains themes, language and violence prevalent in the game
1. Chapter 1: Daily Life of a BLADE

Ch. 1 _Daily Life of a BLADE_

" _Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival._ "

― **C.S. Lewis** , **The Four Loves**

I don't care what anyone says about how MIM's are immune to inconveniences like muscle pain or stiffness, you sleep on your arm for a few hours straight, and it's gonna feel like someone packed it full of concrete. I yawn and scratch my hair with the one normal feeling arm and take a glance over at the time.

0500\. I've been asleep for barely more than four hours. Well not that it matters much. MIM bodies don't need much in the way of physical rest, it's mostly our minds that need the quality snooze time. Besides, Frye needed a designated driver and Phog was busy elsewhere. Such is the life of a sober person I guess.

Forcing myself out of bed I pad down the hall to the showers, which are empty at this time in the morning. It's going to be about another half hour before they start getting populated by other BLADES. I finish off my shower and head over towards the cafeteria at a leisurely pace. The food isn't going to be served until 0600, so no sense rushing to be first in line. To my surprise I see Elma already seated and reading a book in the back of the hall. Normally she's exactly on time at 0600 or just never shows up at all. I immediately get my interest piqued at what brought along this little change of pace.

"Morning Elma, surprised to see you here this early, what's the occasion?"

"Hey Cross," she replies sounding tired, "I wasn't having much luck sleeping, so I decided to try to get a better understanding of humanities penchant for separating themselves based on things like skin color or class. It's been…slow going."

I plop myself down across from her and wince at the title of the book. _Pride and Prejudice._ That was a tough read for me, I'm better with science fiction and fantasy than I am with 'real' literature. "Sounds like a pretty heavy topic there Colonel. What Lao said to you really bothered you huh?"

Elma doesn't really talk about her species much but they clearly don't differentiate between themselves based on appearances or social status. If I had to guess, which I do, I'd say they judge mostly on personality or family ties. Elma definitely has some people she doesn't get along with no matter how important or attractive they are.

She nods and says, "Mostly because he was right. Almost three decades of living among you and I _still_ don't really understand how humans categorize themselves. The sooner I can figure out some of these social rules, the sooner I can stop being a total stranger."

I chuckle at this and reply, "Elma, your the idol all BLADEs look up to, are on a first name basis with NLA's big wigs, and get asked out on a date at LEAST once every two weeks, even though your walking around in your Xeno MIM. Trust me on this, you're no stranger. Just socially retarded, like me."

That get's a smile from her and she says, "Then from one social dropout to another, how's your quest to understand human culture going? Every time I stop by your quarters you've got a stack of books and movies a meter high."

"It ain't easy, I've got like fifty plus years of social media to catch up on, never mind all the classics that go back who knows how many years. Thank God I must have been a transcriber or cipher back on Earth, or trying to catch up on this many things would have been a doomed effort."

Elma's mouth twitches at my mention of being back on Earth. I guess she finds the idea of me being an office worker in my past life amusing. Well so do I for that matter. Office worker turned Alien monster slayer. What a tale that would be.

Elma closes the book with a sigh and says, "Well I'm not getting any farther in this right now, might as well call it quits. Thanks for talking with me Cross, I think I'll be able to fall asleep now."

"I'l try to take it as a compliment that talking to me makes you drowsy. Somehow."

She grins at that and waves as she walks off. I sit for about a minute before hauling my lazy butt out to the Administrative District to actually get something productive done. I'm not really hungry anyway, and these MIM bodies don't need to eat anywhere near as much as a normal flesh and blood body does. I'll stop by Mission Control and see what's available, then swing by the commercial district and grab something there. I yawn for what feels like the dozenth time this morning as I head to the exit. Looks like today might be pretty slow going.

* * *

I head over to the BLADE concourse and see Eleanora just setting up shop behind her personal desk near the Mission Board. I head on over and greet her with, "Morning Eleanora, anything interesting today?"

She looks up and flashes her patented smile that manages to perfectly blend maternal and friendly together. "Good morning Cross, I do in fact have something interesting for you. But aren't you up rather early? Breakfast hasn't even been served in the mess yet."

"I ate out with Frye last night, I'm good."

She frowns and says, "By 'eat out' you mean Frye drank all night at The Repenta while you ate all the free appetizers on the counter, then carried him back to the barracks, correct?"

"It's frightening how you perfectly describe what happened."

"It's all part of my job," She says while smiling rather creepily "If I wasn't able to understand the behavior of the BLADEs I organize, how can I efficiently coordinate their efforts?"

"You make it sound like personally mothering almost two-thousand BLADEs is easy."

"Well not all BLADEs are as much of a handful as you are Cross."

"So before my self-esteem falls even lower, about that mission you mentioned?"

"Oh Right. Well this is slightly unusual for a number of reasons, but the Murderess specifically put out a mission request just for you."

"I hope she's not asking for a target practice dummy."

"It's actually far more worrying than that. This is an official mission request with a substantial monetary reward. Otherwise she likely would have just messaged your comm device."

I feel my eyebrows widen at this bit of information. "Hold up, did you just say that the _Murderess_ is offering a money reward? Eleanora, I need you to punch me real quick, I think I'm still dreaming."

"It surprised me too, but believe you me, this is real."

"Wow. So how much is the reward? She's kind of a scrooge, so it can't be too much."

Wordlessly she flips around her datapad and shows me the reward amount. I look at it and almost choke on my tongue. "Thirty-thousand?! What the Hell is so important that she's offering that kind of money? If it's something like Tyrant wrangling, I'm out."

Eleanor chuckles at that and amusedly says, "While I wouldn't rule anything out, it's still better for you to actually go hear her out in person."

I sigh and dejectedly say, "No kidding. Blowing her off would be probably be more dangerous than the hypothetical Tyrant rodeo. Alright so where can I find her?"

"The meeting address is 890 East melville St."

"An actual building huh? I wonder if she's finally starting her new empire now. How much you wanna bet she wants me to secretly drive some poor guy's business destitute?"

"Well it's not entirely something I would rule out. Best get moving Cross. We both know she doesn't like to wait."

"Sound advice that. Thanks for the info Eleanora."

She waves and goes back to her datapad while I head off to the commercial district. Sounds like Sharon has a heck a job lined up. I take back what I said. Today isn't going to be so slow after all.

* * *

Sharon's shop is one of the new buildings that recently got added to NLA in the months since the Lifehold was recovered. With tons of new Xeno residents, and the prospect of people being revived from the core, construction of new housing was given top priority. She must have gotten this place as soon as it was built, it still smells of paint and fresh carpeting, with a slight tang of metal. There's a few prefabricated counters built into the floor plan but aside from those the place is empty as a tomb.

I shout out, "The service here sucks! Can I complain to a manager?"

I hear an answering shout from the back, "In here smartass, besides my business isn't even open yet."

I head over to the managers office and see Sharon set up behind a desk with a few different folders spread out in front of her. She's abandoned her typical BLADE wear in favor of a black business suit, which quite honestly makes her seem even more scary than usual.

I decide to go with cheerful and say, "The suit really completes the image of terrifying businesswoman. I bet all the other shopkeepers are running scared."

She gives her usual frosty smile and says, "You've grown quite the silver tongue these past few months hon. Quite the change from the adorable, honest little puppy of a BLADE you were when we first met."

"I'm still honest, just bitterly sarcastic and contrary."

"No disagreements here. So would you like to actually get down to business?"

"I'm all ears."

"H.B. darling? Could you fill in Cross over here?"

I ratchet my head around as I realize I totally missed H.B. sitting in the corner of the room. Reeling in my immediate instinct to ask him what he's doing here, I instead force a smile and say, "Ah how the mighty have fallen. Once a prime BLADE candidate aiming for the top and now…a store clerk."

He rolls his eyes and says with all his usual haughtiness, "Amusing. So how does a trip to Oblivia sound?"

"It sounds hot. But never mind that, why are you working with Sharon over here? I thought you'd be going around and talking it up to other BLADE divisions in your bid for world domination."

"Miss Effinger has offered me a very convenient contact in NLA's business sector Cross. In the future, BLADE command will have to coordinate more and more with the citizens of NLA, especially now that the Lifehold has been recovered. Having the support and understanding of it's common folk will be instrumental in succeeding Vandham. Does that explain things satisfactorily?"

"It certainly does. Although I suggest you avoid referring to people as the 'common folk' in your PR campaign."

"Noted. So the details of this mission are rather simple really. You know about Kepha Holly right?"

"You mean those plum looking things that have the pollen that smells like Grex poop dipped in vomit? Unfortunately yes, I do know what you're talking about."

"Good. Then long story short, we need you to gather six of them and bring them back here intact. And that'll be your mission."

"Seems like a relatively simple job. What's the catch?"

"There is no catch, that's the job, and you'll be paid upon delivery."

I ignore him and turn towards Sharon, "Ok there's some context here I'm missing. Why am I being paid thirty grand to grab some of these things? What can they be used for that's worth that much money?"

She smiles and nods at H.B., who bluntly says, "It's not what they can used for, it's what they can be made into. Kepha Holly pollen, when combined with a ground up Cinicula horn and a few other ingrediants, can make a powerful multi-species aphrodisiac, something that wasn't given any priority aboard the White Whale's cargo stores."

I stare blankly at H.B. and say, "How do you do it H.B.? With a completely straight face you just told me that I'll be paid a huge pile of money to travel across an alien desert picking plants that can be made into medicine that'll help a city of cyborgs and aliens get boners more easily. What's your secret?"

He looks annoyed and says, "It's a perfectly normal assignment that is no different than any other of the hundreds of missions BLADES have been doing for more than a year. Don't exaggerate Cross."

"I'm just worried what this will do to your reputation if people find out. Just imagine it. BLADE commander forced subordinates into a mission to find sex enhancers, paid large sum of money for it."

Before H.B. can retort Sharon cuts in with, "Boys, there IS a lady in the room. Cross dear? While I agree that it is fun to tease H.B., I'd prefer it if you stopped trying to drive him crazy in the middle of this meeting."

"In this context I think it's more appropriate to say I was trying to get a rise out of him."

She gives me a look that convinces me to shut up and start acting like an adult. I clear my throat and say, "Jokes aside, is there any sort of timetable for this?"

"As long as it's done in two weeks I have no complaints."

"I'll have it done no later than week and a half then. I'll make sure you get your money's worth."

"Then we're done here. I'll expect to see you then Cross dear."

Both me and H.B. stand up and head out the door while Sharon goes back to all the files she has scattered around. As we head out I decide I had a little too much fun with H.B. and say to him, "You want to stop by Sunshine Cafe H.B.? I'll treat you as a way of apologizing for poking fun at your straight man act."

He heaves a sigh and says, "Alright I'll take you up on that. But Sharon was right in that you've changed from your forthright and embarrassingly honest self a few months back when I first challenged you to a friendly little competition."

"Good times those. And I haven't really changed _that_ much. I just use a lot more words but say less."

"Oh i've noticed."

"So what do you reckon Sharon is trying to start up with her new, uh, 'products'? NLA's first red light district?"

"I'm not going to ask how you of all people know what that is. Well there are already several established general stores and such, so she's likely trying to fill a niche that hasn't been filled yet."

"Definitely the savvy business shark isn't she? You ever thought about asking her out on a date? Between the two of you, you could probably start ruling over NLA in a few months."

"I'm far to busy to commit to such a momentous task as a relationship. And as if you're one to advise about dating. You haven't seem to shown the slightest interest in any sort of relationship at all."

"My excuse is that I'm waiting for the perfect partner, and not that I'm utterly clueless about how to actually date or be romantic."

"You weren't joking about still being uncomfortably honest I see. So what are you planning to do for the mission? Take care of it yourself?"

"No can do. Some hotshot Fal-swo pilot did a number on my Skell last week near Hilal Stronghold. Blew off the left arm, leg, flight module and melted the head sensors. She's gonna be in the repair bay for some time to come. I'll ask around and see if I can tag along on someone else's mission, or just split the reward with a few others."

"Well best of luck with it, in the meantime you can buy me the most expensive thing on the menu."

"I'm really paying for those jokes earlier huh?"

"Damn right you are."

* * *

With H.B. heading back to H.Q. I start going through my COMM device checking on what missions are currently being offered in Oblivia. Not much is being offered right now except for a reclaimer mission, so I'll probably have to call up some friends and see if I can get some traveling companions. Then I remember that Frye is probably going to be accepting a bunch of missions today, since he had about four hours of straight drinking last night. I'll call him and see if I can get him to go along with me.

It's a few seconds before he picks up and says, "Hey, Cross my man! What's up pal? You need me for something?"

"You guessed it. I've got a mission in Oblivia that I'm heading out to as soon as I can and was wondering if you're up for giving me a hand?"

"Hey perfect timing pal, me and Phog were just heading out there to help out Yelv with a reclaimer mission he has, we'll make it a two-for-one!"

"So that was his huh? Well I ain't got any complaints, and this certainly fits your habit of taking on as many missions at once as you can doesn't it?"

"You know it! We're planning on taking a 1900 transport flight, that work for you? Or are you just going to take first class on your Skell?"

"No dice on the Skell, she's in for some pretty serious repairs right now."

"Damn sorry to hear that."

"No worries, it's my pleasure to ride coach with the rest of you. See you then."

He hangs up and I start heading towards the barracks to get my gear together. There's still some time to kill before the flight, but I'll just catch up on my reading until then. Today isn't going to be slow by any means whatsoever.

* * *

I spot three familiar looking figures loitering around the landing pad outside of the BLADE tower and head over to them, already getting a smile on my face. I wouldn't want to spend my entire career teaming with these guys, that'd be bad for both my stress levels and life expectancy, but working with them occasionally is pretty fun. As long as you don't mind things randomly exploding every now and then.

Yelv spots me first and shouts out, "Yo, pard! Long time no see friend, glad you could join the three musketeers on our little adventure eh?"

"I see Eleanora's still giving you plenty of movies to go through."

"I know right? I wish she would start giving me more action stuff though, classic's shouldn't mean boring."

"To be fair you have trouble sitting still for more than two minutes at a time Yelv." I turn my head towards Phog and give him a grin, "And how's life treating you Phog? Trying to keep these two out of trouble?"

He gives a knowing smile and says, "Trying. They mostly end up dragging me along anyways, so I wouldn't say I've had much success."

Frye saunters on over and heartily says, "You should just give up on trying to stop us and have some fun little bro!"

Phog gives a little frown and says, "Charging a herd of Insidias when it's only just the three of us hardly counts as fun Frye."

Not missing a beat Yelv joins and says, "You got nothing to worry about then little guy! With pard coming along with us we can take on anything this planet has to throw at us no problem!"

I mutter to Phog out of the corner of my mouth, "Are they always like this?"

He morosely replies, "Yah, and while I'm glad you decided to come along Cross, I feel like they're also going to be inspired to tackle anything that catches their fancy since you're along for the ride."

"I'll keep a stun grenade handy just in case."

He smiles at this and says, "It'll be nice to have someone level headed on the team for a change."

"You know what they say, misery loves company."

Frye shouts at us from the top of the boarding ramp, "Hurry it up and get your butts in here! We're taking off! Unless you feel like walking to Oblivia!"

We hurry on board and grab a few seats while the loading crew finishes off the last of their checks on the cargo lined up along the walls and locked onto the floor. Transports aren't so numerous that they can afford to separate people and consumables. NLA's air force always does double duty of airlifting both BLADES and material.

I turn to Yelv and ask, "So where about is this wreckage your looking for?"

"It's about 280 kilometers east of the main B.C., it probably got buried beneath the sand and just recently got uncovered by a windstorm or something. How about your mission Pard? Any ideas where to start?"

"I'll have to double check once we get to the B.C. but i'm pretty sure there's groves of Kepha Holly around 45 kilometers to the south of your wreckage. We'll know for sure once we get to the base."

"Sounds like a plan, anything else I should know about?"

"Yah, I'm going to take a nap, wake me up when we get there."

"What?! First time you see old Yelv in weeks, and you want to fall asleep already?!"

"Relax pal, we're gonna have lots of time to catch up on the drive out there. In the meantime I need my beauty sleep."

"No amount of beauty sleep is gonna fix that ugly personality of yours Pard."

I chuckle and start to regulate my breathing. Within two minutes I'm dead asleep.

* * *

Oblivia is a heck of a place. On the one hand a lot of it is just large expanses of desert with all sorts of nasty Indigens waiting to pop out of their burrows to turn you into a midday snack. On the other, more positive hand, it's a place of staggering scale and natural beauty. With canyons that make the Grand Canyon back on Earth look like a pile of puke, staggeringly large alien ruins, and floating isles kept aloft by electromagnetic currents, there's plenty to gawk at. I just wish it wasn't so freaking HOT. It's bad enough with a MIM body that is capable of regulating it's internal temperature, I can't even imagine trying to hack it with a normal flesh and blood body.

It's actually pretty nice at night though, with temperatures around a chilly 4.5 degrees celsius, as opposed to the 40 during the day. Thankfully we're arriving in the middle of the night, so the brutal heat isn't hitting me right away. The B.C. at Twin Arches was originally no larger than any others, but with the defeat of the Ganglion, it was expanded to include a few landing pads and a moderate Skell repair hangar, along with a few permanent buildings for scientists and prospectors. We check out a car at the vehicle hangar and meet outside the gate for our last equipment inspection before heading out.

"So whats the skinny on your little item hunt," Frye asks as he's locking his gear down, "Still where you thought it was?"

I nod and say, "Yep. So we can just stick with our original plan and head on over to your guy's site first, swing south for my stuff, then be on our merry way."

"That's no fun," Yelv grumbles, "Can't we take a little detour and take out a tyrant or something? I hear Barnabas is still running around out here."

I roll my eyes and say, "Your free to play out your own little David vs Goliath drama Yelv, but don't drag us mere mortals along for the ride."

"David vs Goliath? I don't get the reference."

Frye interjects with, "You should check it out Yelv, it's a pretty cool story about how the underdog beats the big old monster, right up your alley."

I slyly add, "You forget Frye, Yelv can't read."

"The Hell I can't read! How would I ever know which missions to pick?"

"I always assumed you just got Eleanora to read it for you." Phog adds.

Yelv rolls his eyes and says, "Alright yah bunch of smartasses real funny. So who's manning the gun? Nose goes."

I look around blankly as they touch their noses. "Nose goes?"

Yelv grins sadistically and says, "Too bad your only booksmart, not streetsmart Pard. Guess who's riding in the back!"

I look at Phog for help and he only shyly smiles and says, "Sorry Cross, thought you knew that one."

Frye's already seated in the front alongside Yelv who's driving, and he yells out, "Get a move on Cross! Don't want to spend the whole day in the sun do yah?"

I sigh and climb into the gunner platform and mutter, "Real douchebag move there Yelv."

He chuckles and says, "I know that particular phrase."

"Probably because it's applied to you all the time."

* * *

"Ahhh…the feeling of wind in your hair, sun on your face, and sand in your crotch piece."

"No one likes a crybaby Pard."

"Mentally I'm only about a year old. I can get away with being a whiner if I want."

"That's the first time I've ever heard someone use amnesia as an excuse for being a sore loser."

"Could you two stop flirting for a moment and give me a hand over here?" Frye interjects from the other side of a burned out passenger component of the White Whale, "The access hatch got welded shut from re-entry, I need an extra pair of hands."

I look at Yelv and say, "You're the Reclaimer here bud, sounds like you should go do some reclaiming."

"Yah, yah. Hold up a second Frye, we might be able to bypass it without tearing apart the door."

As Yelv heads over to where Frye is I walk over to Phog who's intently staring at his COMM device.

"Anything showing up we should know about?"

He looks over at me and shakes his head, "FrontierNav isn't picking up any signs of large Indigens or Ganglion signals, I think we're in the clear for awhile here."

"Good. After Yelv's driving I could do without another heart attack."

Phog laughs at this. About a month back or so I saw an old montage of monster truck rallies, and I can only assume Yelv saw the same thing, because he was trying his damnedest to emulate the sport. It's not so bad when you're inside of the car, those seats are padded and built tough, but standing upright in the flat of a car that's actively jumping around and hitting seemingly every rock in sight makes for a terrifying experience. On the way back, I'M driving.

My attention wanders back to the Yelv and Frye as I hear a loud clang coming from the debris. I get on my earpiece and ask, "How's it coming? Found your buried treasure yet?"

Yelv enthusiastically replies with, "You bet your ass we did! It's a Reclaimers wet dream in here. Personal data pads, photos, personal trinkets…all in pretty good condition too. Lemme record everything we got and we can check this off out to-do-list."

"Roger that. I'll keep an eye out up here with Phog, register to your heart's content down there."

I climb up a small rock outcropping about twentymeters or so from the crash site and start looking over the terrain. FrontierNav is an incredible piece of tech, able to give you a variety of info such as Indigen movement patterns, seismic readings, sound oscillation graphs and temperature changes based on how many probes are working in tandem. This area of Oblivia is fairly close to the main B.C., so there's an extra dosage of probes laid over the area. With all these luxuries, it can be easy to forget that sometimes plain old eyeballs are the best way of getting information.

With that thought in mind I notice a strange dust cloud moving roughly in our direction, and it doesn't have the usual swirling behavior clouds kicked up by wind do. I raise Phog on the COMM and ask, "Hey Phog, you see that dust cloud about two and a half kilometers out? Is FrontierNav picking up anything strange out there?"

"Yah I noticed that myself. Well it's kinda weird what I'm getting back from FrontierNav. Whatever's making that cloud must have travelled right over a probe because I got back all sorts of info."

"Like what?"

"Well there's lots of small seismic impacts detected that are probably footsteps of about tenor so large humanoids. There's also a larger one that could be some sort of floating vehicle. Sound pickups also place the frequency close to a Ganglion hover transport, but it's not a perfect match."

It takes a second for this to process before I jump down from my perch and yell, "Dammit Phog! If it sounds like a Ganglion squad, has the same numbers as a Ganglion squad and SOUNDS like a Ganglion squad, it's probably a friggin Ganglion squad!"

There's a moment of silence over the COMM before he comes back with a, "Oh, that's true huh?"

I resist the urge to deck him across the face and raise Frye, "Did you two get all that?"

"Yah, that's typical Phog for you. His heads always full of his namesake. Yelv isn't done yet so we're coming up to you."

"Roger that, I'll start coming up with a game plan."

I turn back towards Phog to have him sight down the Ganglion and confirm their numbers, only to find him up on a rock already doing so. He may be kind of a dunce about stuff, but when push comes to shove he's one of the best. I guess he's a kind of pseudo idiot savant?

"What have you got Phog?"

"Pretty much what FrontierNav guessed, ten male cavern clan Prone, one flatbed transport. Usual patrol formation, three in front, five around the transport, two on rearguard. They don't look too alert though."

I nod and turn towards Yelv and Frye who just arrived, "Ok here's the plan. You three take up position here and get ready for an ambush. Focus down that transport first, if it's carrying anything important we need to find out what it is. After that wait until I come in from behind and they get distracted, charge em and finish them off before they get organized. Sound good?"

They all nod except for Phog who asks, "How are you going to come in from behind? It's mostly flat terrain around here except for that cliff face over there. They'll see you moving when they're this close already."

I just give him a smile.

* * *

This cliff looked a lot smaller from a distance and from the ground. Up here I'm a good thirteen meters up. Not that bad of a drop for a MIM, even less so when I'm wearing my armor, but that's still a pretty big distance to tackle. I give my head a small shake and focus back on the ambush. We took about four minutes to set everything up before we took our concealed positions. Now we're just waiting for the Ganglion to walk into the kill zone. We've stayed off the Comms for the last eighteen minutes or so just in case the Ganglion have some sort of passive radar set up, so the only thing I've had to do since climbing up here is let my armor slowly heat up. It's gonna get pretty sweaty in here soon, but I don't want to risk using the cooling functions if they have thermal scanners handy.

I really, REALLY don't like the heat.

Thankfully the Ganglion finally make their way into sight. Just like Phog said it's ten Prone relaxedly escorting one of their multi-purpose hover transports. I notice that there's already an assortment of equipment on said transport. Looks like these guys have been busy. Hopefully Frye or Yelv don't get carried away with the fireworks and blow away the entire thing.

I slowly breathe in and out as the vanguard passes below me and ease myself into what Lin likes to call, 'The Zone'.

In addition to being an office worker back on Earth, I must have also practiced some kind of Zen martial arts or something. Even during my very first fights on Mira, I was always able to instinctively keep myself cool and collected, and other BLADE's always seemed shocked at how fast my reaction time is. I don't know why I'm able to so effortlessly enter this state of mind, but it's kept me alive more times than I care to count.

As the main escort passes beneath me I slowly ease myself into a crouch and get ready to jump. As soon as the rearguard is about to pass beneath me I shortly speak into the Comm, "Now." and jump off the cliff.

Coinciding with my leap the grenades Frye buried in the sand explode, shredding one of the leading Prone and staggering the other two. Wasting no time Yelv fires off a two-second burst from his raygun that burns off the upper half of one of the staggered Prone and slags a corner of the transport. In a beautiful follow up Frye launches a thermal grenade that hits the transport's guidance system and renders it immobile. Phog fires a volley of bullets that take out the last vanguard Prone and only leave a confused group of five Prone with both their vanguard and rearguard buddies dead.

The rearguard is dead because during the initial commotion I landed like an anvil on the leftmost Prone and snapped his back in half. Normally I wouldn't have been able to take a full grown male Prone out by landing on him, even if I had a good second or two to build up speed before impact. But I'm wearing my very own specialized 'Reginal' class armor, which makes a heck of a difference.

The initial Forza class armor by Sakuraba were mass produced and made in a hurry. It was mostly just a modern take on the old body armor concept. The new Reginal class takes full advantage of both Xeno and human tech, and it's a beast of it's own.

Built around the frame of a 6th-gen exoskeleton, Hardened ballistic plates are directly attached to the frame to allow maximum flexibility and durability. Not content with just a very powerful and tough armor, Sakuraba approached the Orpheans to help design the inner layer of the suit, creating a nasty mix of both temperature regulating and tear resistant fabric that is nothing short of brilliant. Stand in a burning desert or frozen Tundra and the only difference your body notices is the change in visual scenery. And forget trying to slip a knife in-between the armor plates, the material can blunt those suckers no problem.

Additionally I added my own special modification to integrate a 'chameleon' camouflage system from G.G.G. into the armor plates. Small sensors on my helmet read the color spectrum of the surrounding area and correspondingly alters the color of my armor. It's not too effective when moving fast, and drains power like crazy, but when staying still it works perfectly at fooling visual scans.

The long and short of it is that with the added force of the armor, as well as me shooting my legs out like a piston right before impact, Mr. Prone didn't have a clue what hit him. He didn't even have time to cry out. His buddy stares in shock for a second before uttering a surprised shout and starts to raise his gun.

He doesn't have it raised halfway before my carbide ralzes takes his head clean off with barely a whisper of resistance and he collapses like a sack of potatoes. I've never seen a sack of potatoes actually, but the saying is descriptive enough in it's own right.

One of the remaining Prone turns around and see's my bizarrely distorted figure standing around the bodies of his comrades. Just like no-head over here he's too confused to do anything but gape for a second. I don't blame him really. Seeing the chameleon armor in action for the first time is disorienting to everyone. To the person looking at it it's like part of the landscape came alive and took on a distended human shape.

Regardless he finds his wits and yells, "Behind us! Ear-" which is about as far as he gets before I throw one of my swords at him and split his head in half all the way down to the Prone equivalent of a sternum. His other buddies have gotten themselves together at this point however, and they start to raise their weapons at me while I'm still standing in the middle of an open desert. Not exactly a winning scenario, so I go with both the bold and slightly stupid decision of charging 4 Prone in close quarters combat.

It only takes me three powerful strides before I'm in hitting distance of these guys. The closest goes for a quick strike with the butt of his gun, not having had time to aim properly, but I let my upper body bend slightly backwards to avoid the strike, then lean forward and ram my remaining blade right into the center of his chest before dragging it down and to the right.

One more down.

To my surprise he manages to grab the hilt of the blade before it spills his guts out and locks it in place so that his buddies have time to get a clear shot. As far as dying moves go, this is a pretty good one. Unfortunately it isn't going to work on me. I don't even hesitate to leave the sword behind and immediately dash to the Prone on my left who just got a clear line of fire on me. He fires a shot but it goes wide by a hairsbreadth, and I leap into his chest, whipping my arms around to get him in a figure-four headlock.

Ordinarily I wouldn't advise trying to beat a male Prone in hand-to-hand combat, even if your wearing powered armor like I am. Their height advantage and ridiculous strength is just a little too much for us smaller humans to reliably contend against. That being said, those big ol' arms of theirs aren't great at dexterously prying off a sudden hug attack. What's even better is that the figure-four leverages most of my triceps, pectoral and lat muscles while he can only use part of his neck to resist. A quick push of my arms and his vertebrae come apart with a wet crack. While he's going limp I steer his body to block the aim of the remaining Prone, allowing the other a clear shot at me.

I was counting on this though. I clear my delta machine pistol from it's side holster and fire a burst at his head. His shot takes me in the side and knocks the air out of me, but I'm only winded, while my rounds took out an eye and a decent portion of his skull. That's six down for me and one to go.

Which would have been job well done if the other guy hadn't had the bright idea to take advantage of the fact that his dead buddy is still bearing down on me and blocking my view.

My first hint that things are going downhill is a sudden roar and then what feels like a wall crashing into me. I barely get my legs to brace me against the sudden charge and sneak a peek around the dead Prone's side. What I see isn't exactly comforting. The one remaining Prone is using his pals body as a fulcrum to bear down on me, which is pretty darn smart. This would have been a losing battle even if I wasn't out of breath from getting shot in the side. At this point all he has to do is keep pushing until I fall over and get trapped beneath the corpse of his pal here and it's game over for me.

THIS is why I say it's a bad idea to try to take on Prone in CQC. Luckily for me, I still have friends left. There's several sharp cracks and a brief _sluck_ noise, then the massive force pushing against me stops and I can finally take a moment to get my breath back. My Comm crackles to life and I hear Phog saying, "Cross you still there? Did I get him?"

"Yah you got him," I wheeze back, "Nice shooting."

I bend over and take a few seconds to relax and get my breathing back to normal before I straighten up and take stock of the aftermath. Yelv runs up and disappointingly says, "What the Hell Pard, you didn't leave any for the rest of us."

I roll my eyes.

"My bad Yelv, next time I'll tell them to go bother you instead."

He laughs and happily says, "I think that might be a new record for fastest time spent eliminating an enemy squad two and a half times bigger than ours. Pretty sure twenty-two seconds is the leading time, and I personally counted ours as sixteen and a half."

"That's great Yelv, but how about we take a look at the transport before it runs off or blows itself to pieces? We might get some idea of what those guys were doing out here."

"Don't sweat it, Phog's already taking a look at while Frye's making sure all these guys are dead. Meanwhile I'm going to get back to work on that piece of wreckage. Plenty of work still to do Pard, don't start slacking now."

"I just got shot in the side. I can slack if I want to."

* * *

About half an hour later we finish stripping the bodies of the Prone of any useful tech or weapons, get the transport reprogrammed and hooked up to our car, and finish cataloging all the items retrieved from the wreckage. Our only casualty was my comm device, it's receiver and display got crushed during my headlock maneuver and the subsequent bullet hit, so I won't be taking any calls or messages on it until I can get a replacement back in NLA.

We don't bother burying the bodies. Ever since the Tree and Cavern clan emigrated to NLA it became known that dead Prone bodies are often fed to native beasts. It's a win-win for us. We get to be respectful of the dead, and we don't have to dig graves for those behemoths.

I take another look at the equipment the Ganglion already had loaded on the transport and furrow my brow. It's stuff I haven't seen before. While similar to the Oc-servs and Xe-dom sensor equipment, it's not a perfect match. Which then begs the question of where they got it and what they were going to use it for. Dammit, I really should have thought this through better and tried to keep one of the Prone alive for questioning.

As if reading my thoughts Frye comes up beside me and says, "I hope your not having second thought's on how we handled that little firefight. And I really hope you're not thinking we should have tried to take one of those giants prisoner."

"More like I'm just frustrated that I never considered the possibility that we might have had to tackle more than just our accepted missions. I wouldn't have made that mistake a few months back. I dunno, I guess I'm mostly just worried that I've started to get lazy for no particular reason. It's not like we're at peace or anything."

Frye laughs and says, "Cross, from the very moment you stepped foot in NLA you were taking part in every high risk mission you could find and helping people up and down the city. Don't think I've forgotten how you helped me and Phog out either. You've been fighting and mediating non-stop for more than a YEAR. All while having to deal with not having any memories of Earth customs or social norms I might add. You're probably worn out and you don't even know it. Besides, I've been in this business way longer than you have and I didn't consider that possibility either. I won't tell you not to learn from this mistake, but you sure as Hell don't have to beat yourself up about it."

I think about that for a second and eventually nod. "I'll keep that in mind. And, well…thanks Frye."

He grins and says, "Don't mention it kid, it's the job of the veterans to look out for the new guys."

"If you really mean that you'll let me drive instead of Yelv."

"Sorry, the nose goes policy trumps all."

"Goddammit."

* * *

Actually the rest of the mission was fairly uneventful. With the trailer behind us Yelv was forced to drive like a human being, which was great news for me. The Kepha Holly retrieval went without a hitch. Normally any sort of physical pressure exerted on the Holly causes it to explode in a cloud of pollen that smells like your worst nightmare. Sharon planned ahead for that though, and got a few Ma-non A-grav storage containers for this very mission. Looking like a simple briefcase, the containers actually have a very sophisticated field that keeps objects weightlessly suspended inside their confines.

Getting the holly is a cakewalk with this equipment. Simply shut the case around the stem so that the plant is perfectly centered, the field kicks on and bingo. Retrieval successful. After getting six of those I borrow Yelv's comm and call Eleanora. It rings for a few minutes while we pack up our gear for the return journey, until it's accepted and Eleanora's face shows up.

She seems somewhat surprised to see me and worriedly asks, "Cross, is everything ok over there? Why are you calling from Yelv's comm?"

"My bad Eleanora, we're all fine. We had a bit of a mix-up with a Ganglion scavenger squad and my comm device got busted. Just calling in to let you know we've completed both missions and are heading home. Also we picked up some leftovers from our Ganglion counterparts and are bringing those back as well. If you can pass word to the Xenotech guys I'd appreciate that. Some of this stuff looks pretty new."

"That is very interesting indeed. Alright I'll pass word along. Anything else to report?"

"Nope, that's pretty much it. We should arrive back in NLA tomorrow barring any further surprise firefights."

"Well you are traveling with Frye and Yelv, so I wouldn't rule anything out."

"Please don't jinx it. See you then."

I hang up and hand Yelv his comm back. "Hey Yelv I have a proposal for you."

"You've got my interest. What's up pard?"

"Actually, Frye, Phog. You two as well. What's your guy's cut for the Reclaimer job?"

"It's an eight grand job, nothing too substantial. Although all the junk we got from those Ganglion guy's will probably boost our payday a little. Why you ask?"

"Well my cut for the Holly collecting job comes out to a hefty thirty-thousand credits, and I was thinking I could maybe buy us dinner and drinks. What do you think?"

Frye looks at me in shock before shouting, "Thirty-thousand for that milk run?!"

"Why is that phrase called a milk run anyway? I'm curious."

"Quit changing the subject! Heck why are you buying for us only once? You could pay for our food for a whole month with that kind of moolah!"

"Don't get greedy Frye. Besides there's a catch to this deal."

"And what might that be?"

"Next time we go on a mission together? I'M driving."

* * *

I yawn as I walk through the commercial district on my way to Sharon's soon-to-be shop. The rest of the mission had gone routinely. Arriving back at base, getting our loot packed away and grabbing a flight back to NLA had taken most of the day and a decent part of the morning. Most places aren't even open this early, so the streets are fairly empty. Well, most sensible people aren't walking to work at 0450 in the morning. I don't know how Sharon does it.

I walk into her office carrying the cases and shout, 'Pizza's here!"

She answers with, "I really need to talk to Eleanora about what Earth media you're being exposed too."

"To be fair that one I learned from spending a lot of time with the Ma-non. It's like Pavlov's dog's except a lot more frightening."

"What a worthwhile subject to know about. Good for you dear. And excellent work getting those products back to me so quickly. I honestly didn't expect you to be back so quick."

"Neither did I, but I had some excellent teammates. Well sorta excellent. As long as you overlook their occasional bouts of crazy."

"Well then I'll go ahead and transfer the money to your account. And I'll be sure to contact you first for any future work."

"Appreciate it…all this is preparing for the revival of the Effinger Empire right?"

She looks at me guardedly and carefully says, "It is, but what's it to you?"

I avert my eyes and say, 'No, well…look, you don't have to pay me so much for any of these jobs ok? I'm not in this just because it pays well. Friends for friends and all that."

She stares at me blankly for a second then starts laughing hysterically. Did I say something weird?

She manages to choke out, "Cross, you really need to be careful about what you say to me, or I might just take you up on the offer," she chuckles a little more before adding, "There's actually two big reasons I'm giving you such good terms. One is that I've spent so long simply earning and saving money, I really need to get used to spending it, as well as paying employees based on their performance. Secondly because despite what you may think, I do remember all the times you helped me out. Chances are good I'd be in a prison cell if it wasn't for you and Irina. Consider this my way of finally saying thank you. Also never tell Irina I said that, or your banned from my business forever."

"Huh. What you referred to as my 'silver tongue' seems to be failing me right now. I think I'll just go with, 'glad to be working with you boss'."

"Happy to hear it hon. Oh, before I forget, your comm got trashed when you were out right?"

"Yup. Surprise surprise, it's not bullet proof, contrary to their marketing pitch."

"Well your darling little friend called late last night asking me whether you were alright, since they couldn't get ahold of you. Apparently Eleanora gave them my contact info since you were on my assignment."

"I didn't know Vandham cared so much about me."

She gives me a deadpan look and I amend, "Ok ok lame joke, I know. So who was it?"

"Well Celica obviously. She couldn't raise you on your comm so she was worried something may have happened and tracked me down."

I sigh and say, "I have no idea how she manages to worry about everyone else BUT herself. There's no way that's healthy."

Sharon gives me an incredulous look and says, "As if your one to talk. If even half the rumors and bar talk are true, you've had a hand in what seems like half of NLA's domestic problems. Your in no position to blame someone else for being too selfless."

"Ok fair point. I'd like to think I'm at least a LITTLE self-absorbed though."

She merely shakes her head in exasperation.

"So anyway, you did tell her that I was fine right?"

"Of course, she didn't mention what she was calling about though, so why don't you be a gentleman and call her as soon as you can?"

"She won't stop worrying until I do. Guess I'd better hightail it out to Armory Alley and get a replacement, the sooner the better."

"A sound idea. Well I'll get in touch you with you again if I need additional help. Take care now hon."

"See you around."

I stretch as I walk out onto the street and see the city start to come alive. I briefly consider just hopping on a shuttle to the Administrative District but decide against it. It's been awhile since I've had a chance to take a look at how the city is shaping up, I want to see how people are getting along with all the Xeno's emigrating to the city. I start humming _L.A. Woman_ to myself as I walk down the street as the street lights shut off, shops start opening, and all sorts of figures start to peruse the storefront shelves.

* * *

NLA is what Vandham likes to call a 'mess of a melting pot'. I looked up the term and melting pot really does seem to best describe the city. We have several different species aside from humans living in the city. There's the majority such as the Ma-non, Nopon, Orpheans, Prone and Wrothians who have numbers in the hundreds if not thousands living throughout the city. There's also a significant minority of other races living amongst the city who only have a few dozen members, or even single digits. These mostly consist of the Zarubaggan, Definians, whatever the heck Professor B is, the Xenos Elma is a part of, Qlurians, Gaur, and L's species. Come to think of it a lot of the minority guys don't even have a species name or just don't want to give it to us. Such secrecy.

When the initial planning of NLA was carried out by EXODUS little thought was given to how the city might accommodate beings other than humans. Understandable, but if they could only see the numbers now they might be kicking themselves for overlooking such a possibility. Almost one in nine residents of the city are non-human, with some that have specific living conditions. Take a normal human general store with an outdoor cafe for example. There's a specific shelf height, specific chair height, specific door and aisle dimensions, specific temperature, specific humidity, specific products specifically for humans.

None of which are either convenient or even feasible for a number of Xenos. Take the Nopon and Ma-non for instance. They're both substantially shorter than humans, and with a different physiology. How are they supposed to reach for things off of a highly placed shelf, or see behind a counter that's too tall for them? Heck, how are they supposed to use a shopping cart? If the city is going to keep growing at projected rates, these things will transform from minor inconveniences into full blown disasters. Perhaps a better example would be the Male Prone. Some of the poor bastards can't even fit through a door without having to contort themselves, provided they can do it at all. And what if they want to sit down? The chairs in said cafe are laughably small and ill designed to carry them, are they simply supposed to stand all the time or consign themselves to benches that may or may not be present?

All sorts of problems, large and small. What this boils down to is that in the last four or so months, after Sun'Barac became the official Xeno representative, NLA has undergone a MASSIVE construction and redesign boom. New outdoor bazaars and diverse furniture designs were constructed while several parts of the residential and commercial district were expanded. A new housing block in the Residential District was just completed two weeks ago that takes into account the physical needs of many different Xeno species. At first I was kind of concerned that we would end up with Xeno only ghettos on our hands (I had just finished watching _District 9_ ), but even that had been thought of and a few human hopefuls had been given residence there, assuring there would be mixed species neighborhoods. Things are still a little rocky in terms of Xeno-Human relationships, but most of the really aggressive xenophobes like Powell and Alex have been dealt with already, and most people who aren't enthusiastic about coexistence are becoming outnumbered or simply resigning themselves to the inevitable.

I give myself a wry smile. I occasionally wonder if my memory loss made it easier for me to keep an open mind about so many different alien species. I barely remember anything about Earth, and nothing of it's destruction. A lot of BLADEs like to believe that one day Mira truly will be our home, our second Earth. For me, Mira always _was_ my home. I spent most of my 'childhood' being exposed to all sorts of Indigens and Xenos, both good and bad. I didn't have any preconceived notions, so keeping an open mind was my default strategy. It seems to have worked out so far, if I may say so myself. My internal monologuing is interrupted when I spot a familiar face walking down the roadside.

I say walking, but it's more like a heavy plodding. I wave and shout, 'Hey Rock!"

He turns after hearing my voice and calls out with his own, 'Oh hey Cross!"

I'm still not used to how his voice sounds compared to his appearance. Normally you would expect some sort of gravelly baritone or something like that, but he's actually quite soft spoken and shy. Can't judge a book by it's cover. As he walks closer I see he's carrying his usual passengers of a few Ma-non and young Nopon on his back. Taking a closer look I recognize one of the Ma-non. "Hey Ackwar, long time no see!"

"Hi Cross! You can let me down here Rock, thanks for the ride like always! I'll see you later, right?"

"No problem little buddy, I'm happy to help!"

The Nopon chorus, "Ma-non friend leaving?", "Ma-non friend has to go to work!", "Bye bye Ma-non friend!"

I smile to myself at that. Nopon kids are too damn cute and trusting. I wonder what it is that turns them into slick conmen when they get older.

Rock looks at me and says, "Celica's been looking for you since yesterday Cross, although I'd be careful if I were you. Once she heard your comm got broken she was saying stuff like, 'he has no sense of caution', or, 'I bet he did it helping someone without a second thought again'. She can be pretty scary when she gets mad."

I frown at that. So apparently both Sharon and Celica think I'm a little too free with the helping people unconditionally act? Ok Sharon gets a free pass since she's always looking out for number one, but why is Celica getting mad at me for that? She's worse than I am, in fact she's almost as bad as Hope.

I shake my head and say, "Yah you're right about that. I'm getting my comm fixed today anyway so she can't stay mad for too long…right?"

"I hope so, I feel nervous talking to her when she's like that."

I scratch the back of my head in embarrassment and say, "Sorry that you got dragged into this little drama Rock."

He smiles and says, "Aw don't worry about. She would always get this way with me even before we arrived in NLA if I ever tried to fight off our pursuers. I'm used to it by now. Sorry Cross, but I have to get going to work. If I'm late Dalton will make me share my lunch again."

I grin at the idea of Dalton and his crew bullying Rock into sharing his food, which would normally feed twenty people in one go. I nod and say, "Don't let me hold you up. See you around Rock."

He walks off, surprisingly quiet for his size. Then again, almost all of Rock's mannerisms and personality quirks are the polar opposite of his appearance, I dunno why I'm even surprised anymore. I turn to Ackwar and ask, "So are you in town for BLADE work today or just sightseeing?"

"Just some BLADE work, nothing too important, yah? Some Nopon and Ma-non got into an argument over which is better, pizza or hot dogs? While pizza is obviously better, things got so heated that they decided to meet at Melville plaza today and have a debate to decide which is better. I'm just here to make sure things don't get out of hand. I mean, we Ma-non can get a little crazy when it comes to pizza…" He goes quiet at this.

I can imagine what he's thinking. Powell's killing spree was more or less because he blamed the Ma-non for causing his wife to commit suicide due to their irrationality and aggressiveness when it came to pizza. While I'm sure that played a part, I'd bet my life that the additional shock of losing Earth was the main cause of her slow burn. A lot of people had sudden depression or anxiety attacks after landing on Mira during the first few months. No matter how strict the mental screening process was for people to board the White Whale, I imagine it's still a hell of a thing to lose almost everything you once took for granted.

None of that matters to Ackwar though. He's a good enough person that he probably still feels responsible for both Powell''s anger and Yuyu's subsequent murder, as well as the rest of the death's caused by that mess. I pat his shoulder and say, "Then we're lucky to have guys like you who can be relied upon to keep things under control. Don't beat yourself up too hard about things that happened in the past ok?"

'Oh, uh, like wow. I, uh didn't know you thought that highly of me. Ok! I can do this no problem! I'll keep things under wraps and not get distracted by the thoughts of pizza! I think?"

I chuckle and say, "Well I have to get a move on, good luck with the job Ackwar."

He nods enthusiastically and says, "Count on it, you take care too!"

I continue on my way towards the BLADE barracks and take a look at the time. 0730. Sheesh, I still have like twelve hours before I'm meeting up with the other three tonight. Well that's not too big of a problem really. I still have to get a new comm device and turn in my armor for maintenance, that'll take awhile. And I HAVE been awake for almost thirty hours now, I'll probably feel pretty tired once I head back to the barracks and sit down.

As I walk into the barracks common room I immediately hear the sound of nails desperately scrabbling for traction on the metal floor. Sure enough Zippy comes tearing around the corner, panting heavily and tail wagging hard enough to break a kneecap. I lean down to pet her and sure enough get a face full of deliriously happy Labrador Retriever. Most terrestrial animals from Earth are given specific BLADE owners, like Mathias, to keep tabs on them and see how they adapt to Mira. Zippy is an exception in that she's sort of group adopted by the BLADE's who live in the Barracks. There's no set roster of people who look after her but so far that hasn't even come close to being an issue. Just the opposite really. I have no idea how the poor dog gets time to sleep since people are constantly coming and going, especially considering the fact that she feels the need to personally greet everyone that walks through the entrance.

Polar opposite of that is Yzma, our calico cat that never seems to give a crap about anyone. I walk by her and say, "Hey Yzma.".

No response.

I roll my eyes and move on. Zippy wanders off as I head into my room, probably to try to find time to take a nap, and I ease down onto my bed to catch up on some needed sleep. I start my breathing exercises and just like that I'm out for the count.

* * *

I stretch my back out as I wait by the shuttle stop that'll take me to the Repenta, and reflect that if the MIM's were really designed to mimic a human body perfectly, they would have added poppable vertebrae in the design. It just feels weird not being able to crack your back.

Musing about the shortcomings of not being able to crack your spine aside, my comm is finally coming back online. These things always take awhile to reboot when you transfer the data from one to the other, but with this finished I can finally catch up on lost messages. Hopefully something important didn't come by while I was out of the loop.

My messages screen pops up and I start to scroll through it as the shuttle arrives. Just a few random messages from BLADE headquarters informing me about the transferred money from Sharon's job, the completion of said job, the status of my Skell repair work, an advertisement for the newest in the arms manufacturers lineup, stuff like that. Capitalism has made it to space and seems to be doing just fine.

Three messages in particular catch my interest. One is a text from Elma, and two voice messages from Celica. I wince and set the voice messages aside for the moment. I'm not too sure I want to play those aloud right now. I scan through Elma's message and grin.

" _Hey Cross, I'm thinking about getting some of the old Team Elma back together for a mission in Sylvalum. I'm running this by the others and getting a head count. Are you interested?"_

Damn right I'm interested. I can't even remember the last time we had a full squad of familiar faces, especially now that Lin largely transferred to NLA's engineering division. Here's hoping everyone can make it.

Once the shuttle drops me off at the Repenta I take a look around but don't see the other three yet. There's a few scattered groups of people out and about, including some Zarubaggan gesturing towards the trash disposal units, some Orphean's and Ma-non seemingly debating whether to eat the Repenta's windowsill plants and a few Prone helping offload a recently landed transport.

It's life inthe big alien city.

Come to think of it Phog and Yelv are always at least fifteen minutes late no matter what, so I don't know why I bothered arriving on time. I'm surprised Frye isn't around though, I though he lived here. Whatever, I figure now is as good a time as any to listen to Celica's messages. I hit play and the first message voicemail plays,

" _Hello Cross, I was merely contacting you to see if you're available to help me with a mission I'm accepting in Noctilum. It should be a fairly quick one, no more than 5 days even assuming delays. I assume you're busy right now, if not I would greatly appreciate you letting me know."_

I feel a slight twinge of guilt. If I had waited a little longer before hightailing it out to Oblivia I might have gotten her message and been able to help her while still finishing Sharon's mission with time to spare. Well no point in worrying about it now, besides Celica knows that someone can be outside of the city at the drop of a hat. I play the next message and immediately recoil inside slightly. She does _not_ sound happy.

" _So Cross, I was just very kindly informed by Eleanora and The Murderess that you were on a mission in Oblivia. And apparently your comm device was broken during a fight in which you decided to attack a squad of Ganglion. While it's certainly not my place to criticize your actions, you being more experienced than me, I do wish you would take greater pains to avoid such conflict. Quite a few people in the city would be distraught to hear news of your death, Rock and myself foremost among them. Please contact me as soon as possible so that I may yell at you in person."_

I can't help but smile at the end of that. She knows what she's asking is impossible, but asks anyway. Some people are just too caring for their own good. I contact her comm and wait while it connects. About half a minute later her face pops up on screen and I come to the sudden realization that I have no idea what to say.

I decide to wing it and say, "I'm back."

Good one idiot.

Apparently she agrees since the corner of her mouth twitches and she replies, "Indeed you are. I take it you are uninjured?"

"All in one piece."

"I'm relieved to hear so. No other complications arose during your mission?"

"Uh…no. Everything went smoothly. Aside from the busted gear and all."

"I see."

Ok this is freaking me out. I'm getting calm before the storm vibes here. I slowly say, "Hey if this is about your mission offer, I'm sorry I missed out so…"

She gives a small sigh and says, 'Actually it is I who owes you an apology."

"Huh?"

She gives a rueful smile and says, "I wanted to apologize for being angry with you baselessly. Especially when I of all people have no right to be frustrated with others for taking unneeded risks for the sake of others."

"I appreciate the sentiment Celica, I really do, but being worried over others because they willingly put themselves in harm's way isn't something to feel sorry for. So how about we say no hard feelings and move on?"

"No hard feelings?"

"It's a human saying. It's a way of reconciling after an argument that neither side really wanted to end up in or felt all that strongly about."

She smiles and says, "In that case, ho hard feelings indeed."

I breathe in inward sigh of relief. I get anxious when I feel like people are upset with me. _Especially_ when it's people I like.

I get back on track and ask, "So is that mission you mentioned still up in the air or-"

"YO PARD!"

I almost have a heart attack as Yelv yells about eight centimeters away from my right ear.

"Why are you hunched over in the corner all by your lonesome pard? C'mon we gotta grab some seats while they're still ope-oh why hello Celica, I guess that explains why pard was so deep in thought over here!"

"I see your just as boisterous as ever Yelv. Cross looks as though he's gone deaf."

I rub the side of head and say, "At least the right ear is. Would it kill you to say hello like a normal person Yelv?"

"But then that would make me normal, which I so am not."

"Oh you're special all right." I mutter.

Looking back to Celica I say, 'Sorry to cut this short Celica, but I promised Frye, Phog and the human boom-mike here that I'd buy after finishing the mission. Do you still need a hand with the assignment you mentioned?"

"No, that's quite alright. I already have a team lined up and we are departing within the hour actually. Enjoy your time with your friends, even if they are a tad overbearing."

I chuckle at that and say, "Ok, good luck on the mission. And stay safe or I'm never letting you hear the end of it."

"I'll try my utmost. Talk to you when I'm return Cross. And make sure Rock doesn't get into trouble, if you please."

She hangs up and I turn to Yelv, "Hey Yelv, how do you feel about babysitting a 4-ton Xeno?"

"Don't try to push that off on me pard, I'm already jealous that you have such a cute babe that goes all googly-eyed over you."

"If nothing else, I promise you that's _not_ what it is."

"Hey if your going to play the dense hero act, that's cool, but don't come crying to me later once she lands a date with another dude."

I sigh as we walk into the Banquet Hall section of Repenta.

"Getting relationship advice from you Yelv. I've definitely hit rock bottom."

Not missing a beat Yelv smiles and shouts, "Then the only way left is up! Let's party pard!"

* * *

I turn towards Frye who looks more than a little depressed at the moment and ask, "I guess scotch just ain't cutting it for you anymore is it Frye?"

He gives a massive sigh and says, "I don't get it. twelve glasses and I don't feel a damn bit drunk. Did I grow immune or something?"

Phog speaks up with, "It's entirely possible your body just got used it after a couple thousand glasses or so. Seriously Frye, you should just be happy you still have a working liver."

Frye looks at Phog, betrayal written all over his face "What are you also gonna be like Eleanora or Vandham and say that I have a problem? The problem here is that I can't get wasted!"

I speak up and say, "Weren't you all fired up over creating your own brewery a couple months back Frye? What happened to that?"

"Collection missions are just so damn boring! And I always spend my money on equipment or booze, so I never had enough to just buy the things."

"Then the only way forward is to stop buying alcohol for a while and invest in your own hops and malts friend. Or you can just take a bunch of drugs."

Phog frowns at me and says, "Don't give him any ideas Cross, he might just get desperate enough to try."

"Like Hell I would! Taste is half the reason I drink, I ain't into any of that pill or plant crap!"

"If half the reason you drink is for taste I have half your solution right here."

I slide my mug of Root Beer towards him and he gives me a look of utter disdain.

"And just how am I supposed to get drunk off of this?"

"You can't, but it might give you a sugar high if you drink enough."

Frye doesn't respond but just blankly stares at the empty shot glass in front of him. Phog laughs and says, "C'mon Frye, this might just be a sign that it's time to take up a different habit. Why don't you work towards earning your Skell License? Your plenty eligible for it. Heck, even Yelv has one"

He merely grumbles and largely ignores us. I smile and swivel around on my stool to face towards Yelv, who's busy on the other side of the bar talking it up to group of three women, one Human, Wrothian and Prone. I guess he's fine with anyone as long as they have two X chromosomes. Come to think of it, do Xenos even share the same DNA patterns as us? Probably not, so I guess unexpected pregnancies aren't gonna be an issue. Not that MIM's come equipped with such wetware. And wow, my mind is all over the place right now. Maybe I should call it a night before I do something embarrassing like join Yelv.

I turn towards Phog and say, "I think I'm gonna call it a night. Need any help with your comatose brother?"

"I think I'll be fine on my own. Thanks for all the help Cross, and for the meal."

"Hey, friends for friends. And don't worry Frye, I'm sure you'll find true happiness yet."

He actually growls at me and I laugh as I walk out. I head over to talk to Yelv before I go, but stop short once I see him start hitting the highpoint of whatever story he's telling. I roll my eyes and decide to let him have his fun. If he's a real gentleman he'll introduce his new friends to Frye and Phog since I'm not around to be the fourth wheel anymore.

* * *

I arrive back at the barracks around 1220 and find only a few BLADE's scattered around the common area, most are either still in town or asleep at this point. As I'm heading towards my quarters I hear someone shout, "Hey Cross!"

I take a look around and see Elma waving from over near the corner of the room. I grin as I head over and see her looking a lot more relaxed than she was a few days ago.

"What's the news colonel? Hows our class reunion looking?"

"It's coming along nicely. It's kind of on short notice but we can leave tomorrow at 1700 hours for a flight to Sylvalum. Want to guess who's coming along?"

"C'mon Elma don't leave me hanging in suspense here, I'm no good at the guessing game."

She grins and says, "Spoilsport. The final roster is looking like Mia, Lin, Irina and Gwin. Barring any surprises we have our final roster."

"Sounds like a party to me. What's the mission details?"

"That's a secret, but I guarantee it'll be fun."

"Sounds ominous, nothing I'm going to lose sleep over, is it?"

She ignores my question, stretches and replies, "Well everythings organized and set to go, I guess all that's left is to wait."

"I have a movie lined up to watch tonight, you want to join in? Doug, Frye, Gwin and Vandham keep insisting that it's a classic."

"Sounds crucial, what's it called?"

"Terminator. Gwin keeps saying that this movie was the inspiration for MIM's, so I was curious myself. You in?"

She grins and says, "Are you joking? Of course I am."

'Well let the credits roll then."

* * *

Nahum was less than happy. As a matter of fact she was, as one of the human prisoners smugly pointed out to her, 'ready to kill a bitch'. The translation of the term 'bitch' was lost on her, but the rest was perfectly accurate. She was feeling rather murderous, and the mouthy human had made a convenient outlet for her frustration. She made a mental note to have the body removed as soon as possible.

No need to worry about the head.

Part of her frustration had to do with only the limited success of her assignment to hunt down and eradicate the Wrothian deserters.

'Limited success' was a bit of an overstatement truth be told. Perhaps 'largely a failure' would be a better term to describe events. While the Wrothian hideout had been located and attacked while the majority of their forces had been absent, a stubborn team of humans working in tandem with the traitors had stymied their frontal assault with vicious hit and run tactics and allowed reinforcements from both factions to arrive, effectively ending the assault. Adding insult to injury the Wrothian traitors had somehow stolen blueprints for a new weapon that had been in development during the assault.

But her ire was by far and large caused by the overall situation now facing the ganglion.

Despite the sudden and disorienting arrival of the Ganglion on Mira following the battle with the Ghosts, things had proceeded rather uneventfully. Luxaar kept the disparate elements of the Ganglion working together, smoothly investigating the curious world of Mira in an orderly fashion.

And then the humans had arrived.

While Nahum had advocated an immediate attack on the human city, in order to eliminate the threat before it could grow, Luxaar had been indecisive and unfocused, splitting resources between searching for a crashed Skell that had been located in Noctilum, infiltrating the human city, finding their vaunted 'lifehold' and trying to pacify various hostile native lifeforms. It was a wasteful and haphazard strategy that he could not be convinced to abandon.

Then things went from bad to worse. Heavy losses were taken by Ganglion forces in Noctilum trying to recover the unknown Skell, only to have it stolen out from beneath their collective noses by the humans. After that it was a constant succession of failed assaults and defections. They failed to coerce the Ma-non into joining the Ganglion, the Orphean and Zarubaggan slaves had defected, various Prone hostages and soldiers were either freed or went AWOL, only to reappear inside the human's city being welcomed as willing allies. The assault on said city, which Nahum had so adamantly insisted be enacted, was repulsed with staggering losses with only the non-operable Skell to show for their efforts.

Then followed the Wrothian defection, a loss that no one wanted to admit was crushing, and then the infamous Zu Pharg incident. Their crown military machine that had been intended to help deal with some of Mira's more lethal predators went rogue and was isolated and destroyed before it had even left Sylvalum. Yet the worst was yet to come.

It had finally seemed like the spies and informants inside NLA had accomplished their mission. Stealing a prototype Skell and gaining the coordinates of the Human's Lifehold was the perfect morale booster for the disheartened Ganglion forces, and a massive force was organized to destroy the core, led by Luxaar himself. Yet despite all odds, against a force at least 3 times their own, opposed by the now operable Skell that was taken from them, the Humans had triumphed. They routed the Ganglion forces attacking the core, destroyed the ancient Skell along with Luxaar, and retrieved their prize.

With the leadership dead, and a full third of their military force gone within a year, the Ganglion fell to pieces within a week. Warlordism grew rampant, and the Humans wasted no time in fortifying several outposts and largely erasing the Ganglion presence from Primordia. All of that was about to change, however.

In one week the remaining Ganglion leaders had agreed to meet at Sylvalum's Anvil Rock Fortress, where the matter of leadership and what to do with the Human's and their allies would be decided. Nahum had a plan already in motion that would help advertise her ability to effectively strike against the humans, and the repairs to Nardacyon were proceeding, albeit slowly.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by her adjutant, a female apprentice Mislaadi, arriving at her side holding a view screen.

She looked at her icily and said, "The purpose of this?"

She looked down and quietly said, "The sensors for Nardacyon were intercepted and stolen by the Humans. Video surveillance captured the raid."

She went perfectly still and resisted the urge to break something. Instead she calmly asked, "And it is necessary to show me, why?"

"You have encountered this human before."

That caught her interest and she motioned at her to start the video. It started off routine, with some Prone lazily making their way towards a piece of human machine wreckage in the distance. She shook her head. The fools were simply to recover the required materials and return to base, not engage in a treasure hunt.

She kept silent and continued to watch, until the opening explosions and gunfire took out the leading troops and halted the transport. The camera kept displaying however, the initial volley had merely disabled it's navigation controls. Nahum was unsure of what she was supposed to be looking for until a shape crashed down on one of the rear Prone with surprising force, killing it in an instant. She watched with fascination as this Human tore through the remaining troops with predatory efficiency, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with seven Prone and _winning._ In a mere seventeen seconds this human with hardly any help from it's allies took down a squad more than twice it's size without the aid of any heavy weaponry. Simply fascinating.

And sure enough, she recognized that fighting style. While she hadn't personally been at the attack on the Wrothian base, reports and video of the failed attack showed two Humans with the same style of combat repeatedly taking out Ganglion forces, making concentrated assaults an impossible task. Which meant that her campaign was now _personal_.

She nodded at her adjutant and said, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Contact our agents in NLA and tell them to begin."

She nodded and retreated to perform her tasks. Nahum stared into nothing and thought, " _Enjoy your easy victories, Humans. You have been lucky to be up against fools and incompetents throughout your stay on this planet. Now I'll show you what a real soldier can do."_


	2. Chapter 2: A House Divided

Chapter 2: A House Divided

"In 1953, Allen Dulles, then director of the USA Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), named Dr Sidney Gottlieb to direct the CIA's MKULTRA programme, which included experiments conducted by psychiatrists to create amnesia, new dissociated identities, new memories, and responses to hypnotic access codes. In 1972, then-CIA director Richard Helms and Gottlieb ordered the destruction of all MKULTRA records. A clerical error spared seven boxes, containing 1738 documents, over 17,000 pages. This archive was declassified through a Freedom of Information Act Request in 1977, though the names of most people, universities, and hospitals are redacted. The CIA assigned each document a number preceded by "MORI", for "Managament of Officially Released Information", the CIA's automated electronic system at the time of document release. These documents, to be referenced throughout this chapter, are accessible on the Internet (see: ?id=31). The United States Senate held a hearing exposing the abuses of MKULTRA, entitled "Project MKULTRA, the CIA's program of research into behavioral modification" (1977)."

― **Orit Badouk Epstein** , **Ritual Abuse and Mind Control: The Manipulation of Attachment Needs**

Maurice Chausson gave an inward sigh in response to Jack Vandhams newest topic of conversation. Yet again he was bringing up the issue of Cross.

That was to be expected though. NLA hadn't survived because it's commanders all shared the same goals and viewed matters eye-to-eye. Vandham was the harsh father figure among BLADE's who commanded both fear and respect. Subsequently he took on an active role in NLA's administration, often personally dealing with problems and handling matters face-to-face. Due to this he was also personally known by a great many BLADEs.

Nagi was similar to Vandham in his devotion to BLADEs on a personal level, but his style of leadership focused more on the big picture. He often handled the detail oriented facets of NLA's matters, and was an efficient organizer. Despite this his combat skills and occasional field missions helped keep him relevant to many BLADE's, who looked upon him with almost mythical reverence. The main difference between them, however, was that Nagi was more willing to accept the sacrifice that came with fighting a war than Vandham was.

Chausson was more a bureaucrat than he was a military officer, and his task of integrating both Human and Xeno cultures into the city gave him an appreciation that sometimes the less said, the happier people were. Ignorance could be bliss.

Eleanora was the last of the four, and she was a total mystery to Chausson. Little was known of her past, and she had suddenly been admitted onto the _White Whale_ with little warning during the final days of Earth's evacuation. What quickly became apparent was that she was far more than just a highly efficient administrator. She had knowledge of several highly sensitive projects and state secrets, as well as a certain callousness when it came to said projects. The real curveball was that she took great pains and devoted insane amounts of effort into keeping track of nearly two-thousand active BLADEs with seemingly no ulterior motive. She genuinely cared about their wellbeing, despite the fact that she had more skeletons in the closet than the other three combined.

NLA could survive the loss of either Vandham or Nagi, and quite likely himself as well. They had successors that could take over their duties and keep the city alive. No one could replace Eleanora. If she were to suddenly drop dead this very instant, he strongly believed that the city would fall to pieces within two months.

Dragging my attention back to the now, Vandham was arguing, "…What I'm saying is that there's absolutely no reason we should keep this secret from him. The longer we sit on this, the more likely it is to explode in our faces when it does eventually get out."

Eleanora cooly cuts in with, "And just why do you think the truth will ever get out commander? We took great pains to ensure any kind of suspicion to his origins could be satisfactorily explained by amnesia. He was well versed in basic communication skills and didn't display any signs of instability, even after being immediately recovered. All of this paints a very believable picture of mass memory loss."

Vandham scowls and retorts with, "And was he ever given an identity, a backstory, ANY kind of past? He wasn't, and people are starting to wonder why that's the case. Every single person on the _White Whale_ was documented and catalogued before takeoff. Every death and disappearance has been carefully been recorded, and that's all public information. I've had all sorts of people personally coming to me asking for any additional info we might have on the kid. Wolf and Corwin already think somethings up, and they're right to do so. No one of Cross's skill would have been overlooked during the selection process, and then just forgotten. Hell, that's just the military guys, that's not even counting other Humans and Xenos!"

Frowning at this I inquire, "It's not just humans that are interested in his past?"

"Of course not. Hope's gang of samaritans have always been on good terms with the Xeno population, most of whom were helped by Cross during Powell and Alex's little dramas. Thanks to her, they're tying to find any record of his past as a sort of goddamn surprise present. Humanity tried to make artificial heroes, and we got ourselves a genuine one. And we better start owing up to that."

Everyone falls silent at this news and I mentally rehearse the circumstances leading to Cross's current status as a hero of NLA, hoping some sort of hindsight will give him a clearer idea of what to do.

* * *

It started with Elma's arrival on Earth bearing several alien technologies, with news of an impending apocalypse. The initial panic and breakdown caused many influential leaders to re-open research projects and experiments that had either been dubbed expensive or unethical, all in the name of survival. The decades leading up to the exodus were ones of unimaginable scientific success and failure. Many human experimentation groups focused on the enhancement of the body, attempting to create stronger muscles, tougher lungs, smarter brains. They all unanimously failed. While perfectly achievable goals, these projects were time consuming, and the deadline was all too quickly approaching. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that Mimeosomes were easier to produce and had all the advantages of an artificial body ready to go.

But one clever group realized that while altering the human body was an inefficient and ultimately fruitless goal, considering the timeframe, the consciousness transfer and storage technology held MUCH more promise. The main thrust of the project was that consciousness could be stably stored in a machine for indefinite periods of time.

So what was to keep the consciousness from being copied, just like a piece of software? Or even altered?

A whole new method of ensuring humanities survival among the stars could be obtained if this could be achieved. Within two years, an amazingly short amount of time, the consciousness of a lab monkey was successfully copied. With this the group moved on to humans. Within a year a human mind had been copied. The question now was how to make the most of this technique.

While the consciousness could be copied, it had a low success rate, only one in forty minds would carry over successfully, the other thirty-nine times the consciousness would simply dissipate to wherever human minds go when they die. Even with all the resources and funds on Earth being devoted to projects such as this, there was still a finite pool to draw from.

The true, twisted genius of these researchers came at this juncture. If a near perfect human soldier could be found, why not copy this mind, and mass transfer said mind into the highly advanced body of a MIM and have it fight for Earth? With this in mind an unknown number of 'test volunteers' were procured by the project, to be used as the basis for creating these perfect soldiers.

Chausson had only heard rumors of the various creation methods, but that was more than enough. Copying the consciousness of veteran soldiers, then selectively erasing memories deemed unnecessary, the project created a very lean and efficient mind that had decades of ingrained combat skills with none of the emotional baggage that accompanied such people.

These streamlined 'personalities' would then be transferred to a grown, newborn body and the real creation process would begin.

Pain tolerance, hypnosis, brainwashing, an ingrained need to help humanity, knowledge of hundreds of different ways of fighting, all manner of esoteric mind exercises…the list of things those dopplegangers were forced to learn in addition to their ingrained skills seemed to go on and on. If Cross's example was any standard to judge by, those poor souls had also been given only the bare minimum of social knowledge, just enough to get by, and not have any individuality at all.

And once the day of departure came, who knew how many of these secret soldiers were transferred to the Ark ships?

The only tangible link left to the project was Eleanora, who had taken an interest in Cross once he was brought back to NLA. While she denied ever being a part of the original project, she never once pretended that she was against the project's ultimate goal.

Perhaps the most galling thing was that the project had been a resounding success. Chausson didn't consider it an exaggeration to say that Cross had been an integral part of NLA's survival. He really had proven to be a near perfect guardian of humanity.

* * *

But now comes the hard part. Taking charge for the first time this meeting, I ask, "Well we know where Vandham stands on this issue. Nagi? Your opinion?"

Nagi goes silent for a few seconds apparently deep in thought. He opens his eyes with a satisfied look on his face and says, "I agree with Jack. Keeping secrets from one of our best BLADEs doesn't sit right with me. We kept things hidden from Lao and look happened when he found out. We should come clean while we still can. I trust Cross to understand our reasoning and not hold anything against us."

Eleanora suddenly speaks up with a slight hint of frustration in her voice and says, "Not to detract from your admirable faith in your subordinates, but there is plenty reason NOT to inform Cross of his circumstances. Put bluntly, we have no actual way of knowing how he might take the news that he is nothing more than a carefully created personality that was made with the sole intention of fighting for Humanity. He's already acting very different from how he originally was intended to be. If you've talked to him in the past months you know how advanced he is with difficult communication skills such as sarcasm and irony. These soldiers were never intended to be anything but composed and straightforward."

Vandham looks at her angrily and says, "Oh really? Well I guess it was a little too much to ask a literal child soldier to spend more than a year desperately fighting to keep his species alive, and still stay the polite little boy you want him to be."

Eleanora narrows her eyes and says in a low voice, "You don't seem to appreciate the risk involved in telling him his past. Worst case scenario he could actually turn against us. As commander of BLADE, I would think that you take this sort of duty more seriously."

Seeing Jack's eye twitch I step in before he explodes.

"That's enough out of both of you. Eleanora, your input on this matter is appreciated, but don't go putting others loyalty into question. Besides, the both of you seem to be ignoring the far more disastrous matter we're currently keeping under wraps. Have either of you thought on how to explain the damage to the Lifehold yet?"

Silence greets me. Nodding, I say, "I thought as much. While there are still two months to go before repairs are complete, that time will likely go by much faster than we would like. Rather than the matter of Cross, we should be focusing on how to keep the city from falling into a panic once they know the consciousness banks are gone."

Vandham frowns and asks, "I don't see how that relates to not telling the poor kid about his past."

Nagi steps in and grimly says, "Because revealing too many unpleasant truths at once will only make things more difficult for all of us. Think about it Jack. First, the hero a majority of NLA looks up to is revealed to be an artificially produced soldier who the leadership exploited without telling him anything. Then shortly after the same leadership reveals that all of our MIM's should be devoid of life due to the wrecked Lifehold, but have no idea why we're all still functioning. Who wouldn't have a crisis of faith? It certainly wouldn't look good to our Xeno allies."

Vandham falls silent and scowls, and I breathe an inward sigh of relief. The truth is I'm glad I can postpone this decision. Cross reminds me of my late son, Adrien, more than I care to admit.

Adrien was also a joker, who often took on life's hardships with a witticism and crooked smile. But that was just the surface. Beneath the jokes and bad puns, Adrien possessed an almost zealous devotion to others, and always offered a helping hand whenever humanly possible. It was this attitude that had convinced me to allow him and a few others to go on a mission to recover stranded _White Whale_ passengers hours before launch. They never made it back before takeoff.

Making the call whether to inform Cross of his past or not had me feeling as if I was deciding the fate of Adrien all over again. I give a sigh as I lean back in my chair. If he's anything remotely like Adrien, he's almost certainly off helping the denizens of NLA as we speak.

* * *

"WHY, exactly, am I doing this for you psychopaths again?"

"Relax Cross! We got your back! There's no way this is anymore dangerous than all those Skell flight tests you always go on."

I scowl at Lin's comment and retort, "Considering how often Doug and I either ended up unconscious or on fire, you'll forgive me for being anything other than relaxed."

"Aw c'mon Chief you're normally so easygoing and relaxed about all this life or death stuff! What's eating you today?"

"Hey congrats on figuring it out Mia! The problem is that there will likely BE something eating me."

"Your not scared of a couple little Indigens are you chief? You stared down that giant colubrim back at Oblivia without batting an eye, what's got you all freaked out?"

Elma jumps in with a sly, "Maybe you guys didn't know this, but Cross is afraid of bugs."

I snarl back with, "It's not BUGS I'm afraid of, it's giant, pincer covered insectoids that I hate. You know, the thing you guys are having me be BAIT for?"

"I have a bunch of recruits not even out of their diapers yet that don't whine anywhere near as much as you do Cross," Irina cuts in with, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"Why should I be ashamed of the fact that my team just threw me into the middle of a field to attract the attention of a bunch of murder insects and I want to cry about it a little bit?"

Irina chuckles and says, "NLA's hero, ladies and gentleman."

I scowl and say, "Why did I get picked anyway? If we're going by most expendable, wouldn't Mia or Gwin be a better candidate for Indigen bait?"

"That's cold Chief!"

"Seriously man! I was about to jump in and defend you, but now I know what you really think of me."

"I think your an incredibly talented and tough BLADE Gwin. So impressive, in fact, that I believe you could do a better job at this than me."

"No can do pal. I just got really comfortable over here."

I give a sigh of defeat and go back to staring at one of the hanging nests that decorate the noctilucent sphere. Lin chimes in with, "I'll make it up to you Cross, tonight I'm making Vivohast bisque, just for you."

I grumble under my breath, 'You're all heart. Surprised you didn't douse me in BBQ sauce before having me waltz out here."

I hear a few chuckles over the comm and go back to studiously ignoring everyone. They're all spread out in a rough semicircle around the Vivohast nest, laying hidden until I can get some of the freaks to chase me. The mission Elma picked up was for us to retrieve some Vivohast eggs, one of NLA's scientists was curious about the incubation process Miran insects go through. Personally I think he was just interested in how they taste. Which right now I couldn't give less of a crap about, since I'm basically playing Poke the Bear here.

Vivohast nests don't have large openings and any attempt to kill them before they exit the nest would almost certainly wreck the eggs as well. So Elma had the bright idea to get the attention of one when it exited the nest and make enough of a racket so the rest also join in on the fun. A nice, simple plan where the unlucky bastard who gets to be bait is in for a rough time. Best of all, I think I might have a phobia of Vivohasts.

The important thing to remember when playing Poke the Bear is that the bear doesn't give a shit if it's a game.

* * *

I take the momentary quiet to look around at Sylvalum and compare it to some of the images of Earth I've seen.

Well, I try to at any rate.

Sylvalum is probably the hardest of the continents to compare to Earth, given it's strange geography and varied flora and fauna. The closest thing I would compare it to is an Earth desert, with lots of sand and little to no rain fall aside from the various oases.

But even that's misleading. Sylvalum doesn't really have sand, it's more like an extremely fine dirt that is a pale white color. It's also way cooler during the day in Sylvalum, the hottest we've ever seen it has been around twenty-eight degrees, while at night it gets pretty chilly at nearly three and-a-half. If it wasn't for the dust that gets kicked up everywhere you walk I wouldn't mind putting a homestead or something out here.

Reason being is that the flora in Sylvalum is astoundingly beautiful. At night many of the crystalline structures as well as it's odd ballon-like plants have a bioluminescent tinge to them, creating a roadmap of shifting light that streaks throughout the place. This already impressive sight is enhanced to nearly unbelievable beauty when one of the crimson auroras lights up the sky. Mira's sun is more active than Earth's, and it's not uncommon to have auroras one or twice a week. Not to mention Mira has a far more chaotic magnetic field than Earth, so the light shows are even more awe-inspiring than the videos of those back on Earth.

If only it wasn't for all that _dust_. What a deal breaker.

* * *

Everyone is silent for a long while until Lin gives a bored sigh and says, "Cross, fire your gun in the air a few times and see if anything happens."

"Hey if you don't like the way I'm being bait, we can switch. Otherwise cram it kiddo."

"You're no fun. So Doug couldn't make it Elma?"

"No he was busy with a Harrier mission, he said he'll try to make it next time."

"Aw man, it's so fun to guilt him into buying me stuff. He's like that step-dad that tries super hard to be accepted by the new daughter so he totally spoils her."

I raise an eyebrow and say, "Oddly specific there Lin. And I thought I was your dad. Or is this like Mia's parents where Doug and I are a thing?"

I hear Mia and Gwin laugh and Lin indignantly say, "Hey I changed my mind about you a _long_ time ago. Your more brother material than you are dad material."

"Well at least I'm not your grandpa. So I guess that makes Doug and Elma your loving parents right?"

Elma sternly cuts in and says, "I don't think Doug would be interested in me in that sense."

I get a sly grin and say, 'Ah leader, do you have such little confidence in your feminine charm? Perhaps you didn't notice, but after we got the Lifehold back up and running, he was carrying your MIM almost like a dashing knight carries a princess, and more recently he gets stuttery and nervous when your name comes up."

Gwin joins in with and says, "I can vouch for that, Doug's been getting a little sappy whenever he mentions you Elma."

I expect Elma just to brush this off, but instead she's silent for a second before hesitantly speaking up with, "He has? Why would he do that though? I haven't treated him any differently, and I'm a xeno, so why…"

Well hello, what's this? I was only joking around, does Elma actually feel that way about Doug? I grin from ear to ear and immediately start thinking of ways this is going to be awesome to watch unfold.

Irina seems to have picked up on Elma's little shift in mood since she says in a shocked voice, "Wait, Colonel, do you actually? Holy crap I never even knew…"

She's interrupted by Lin giving a squeal of glee and rapidly saying, "Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! Elma! When we get back we're immediately going to Ginerva to buy you the perfect outfit to floor him with! Your eyes are definitely your strong point with your original body, so we should get you-"

Elma, sounding frazzled, says "Lin, you don't have to- no wait, that's not even the point here."

Coming to save the day Mia says, "Ok guys let her off the hook. Personally I think it's sweet that Elma finally has someone she's crushing on. Heck Chief, you and Celica have been back and forth for months now, you've got no business poking fun at Elma!"

I nearly swallow my own tongue and try to think of something to say in my defense, and come up with nothing.

Lin sounds like she's nearly about to pass out with awe, "Woah, Cross…you managed to convince one of the most beautiful women in NLA to date you?"

I find my voice and sputter out, "We're not dating Lin, I mean c'mon, she has some standards! Besides she acts more like a worried mom towards me than she does a girlfriend."

Irina laughs at this and says, "Cross, your great at making friends, but for God's sake don't ever try to play matchmaker, I don't think you'll be very good at it with that level of obliviousness."

"Hey I take offense to that. Not only did I set up NLA's first interspecies marriage, I also hitched a bunch of other couples as well. Oh, and was also best man at a Prone's wedding. Elma, Lin, back me up here. Remember Shingo and Dorothy? Nemard and Enneana? I'm good with relationship stuff."

I can practically hear Irina's eyes rolling in her head as she says, "When it comes to others yah, you definitely have a knack for it. But for personal stuff? You are way outta your depth Cross."

"Never mind that Irina! Cross, what made you go totally head over heels for her? C'mon spill it!"

Gwin adds, "Yah c'mon man! You never seemed to have any sort of interest in a girlfriend before, why the sudden change of heart?"

"I just said we're not dating," I stammer out, "besides, what makes you think she would go for me in the first place?"

"Again with the cluelessness." Irina mutters.

I can hear Gwin grinning as he says, "Oh I don't know, it couldn't be that you've saved her and Rock's life just as they were cornered by the Ganglion, are generally a nice person who has hardly a selfish bone in his body, and are a pretty handsome dude. Never mind that you're the hero of the city, so that never hurts a guy's chances."

"…So you think I'm handsome Gwin?"

Lin practically shouts, "So not the point! Cross, talk to me, what do you like about her? It's the ears isn't it?"

I frown and say, "I'm not so shallow that I would-"

I cut off mid sentence and throw myself sideways just in time to avoid whatever it is that came hurtling at me from above. I finish my roll and come up with my Delta at the ready, and nearly have a heart attack as a Vivohast comes charging at me.

Ok, I know that's the plan, but try facing down a frenzied, murderous insect that's bigger than you and see how well you keep your calm.

I decide to conveniently forget that i'm supposed to leave it alive and empty an entire clip into the gap in chitin that leads to it's thorax. It jerks a few times, collapses on the ground and dies with a wet rattle as my shots tear right through it.

I slowly exhale and reload the pistol and try to get my heartbeat under control. My comm crackles to life and Elma says, "Nice reflexes there. I thought we were supposed to keep it alive."

"Oh right. Whoops. Forgot that part."

She comes back sounding smug, "Well no biggie, I think the rest want a piece of you now."

"Say what?"

I crane my neck up and feel my eyes go wide at the sight of almost 8 Vivohasts climbing out of the nest and staring at me. They give off their eerie rattling hiss and start dropping down to the ground.

I'm already hauling ass away from there as fast as I can at nearly 51 kmh, firing wildly over my shoulder as I go. Unfortunately Vivohasts can clock in at 60 kmh.

Lucky me.

Mia happily shouts over the comm, "Holy cow you're booking it Chief! Great work, just keep that up for another 5 minutes or so and we'll come to save you!"

"BITE ME." I strangle out in between breaths.

* * *

I'm sitting on a supply crate back at the Hilal Meadows B.C., wondering why bad things happen to good people as I stare morosely at my dented arm guard. It got chomped on during the last leg of the chase before Elma and the rest started burning down the Vivohasts chasing me. One of them avoided the gunfire and got a pincer around my arm before I unloaded an entire clip into it's eye socket.

Note to self: when going on a mission with Yelv, always drive. When going on a mission with Elma, make sure it doesn't require a human sacrifice.

Speaking of said practitioners of human sacrifice, Mia, Gwin, Lin and Irina all come up to me wearing smug smiles.

"I gotta say you know how to put on a chase big bro," Lin says, "almost five minutes of heart pounding action and all you got was a busted arm piece."

"Heart pounding is a way to describe it. Personally I would go with, 'insanely terrifying' but hey. What would I know?"

Mia chuckles and says, 'Aw c'mon Chief your not actually mad about all that are you?"

I look blankly at her and say, 'Mad? Nah, why would I be mad?"

She gives a more nervous chuckle and haltingly asks, "No but seriously…you're not right?"

I just stare at them blankly long enough for them to start to look ashamed of themselves before losing my straight face and breaking out in a laugh.

I choke out, "The looks on your faces…that makes it worth it!"

Gwin scowls and says, "Not funny dude. We seriously thought you were pissed."

"Have I ever actually gotten angry before?"

"Yah, but not at people you like. New territory there."

"Ah you worry too much. That said I expect double the pay of you moochers, since I did all the heavy lifting and also need a new pair of underwear."

Lin rolls her eyes and says, "Ah you exaggerate way too much Cross. Tell you what, if you sit next to the corpses we're bringing back to NLA, we'll give you an extra cut."

I glare at her and say, "Yah I'll pass thanks," I add under my breath, "Little brat."

"I heard that."

"Oh good."

"Jerkface."

"I hate to interrupt your little back and forth," Elma interrupts as she walks over, "But our ride is setting down and we need to get our cargo on board. Let's hop to people."

We all start moving with a haphazard chorus of "Yes ma'm", "You got it" and "Whatever".

Truly an inspiring chorus of acknowledgements.

Regardless, we start packing our gear and the leftover Vivohast giblets and move onto the transport. Time to head home.

* * *

We walk off the transport about three hours later and I immediately notice something different about the atmosphere in the city. I glance over at Elma and she gives me a slight wince. I guess she can sense it too. It's hard to pin down what it is exactly, I guess it's mostly in the energy.

The Administrative District always has a bustling chaos too it, with BLADE teams coming and going, getting into arguments with other divisions and each other, Xeno's trying to properly explain what it is they require, Skells traveling up and down the boulevard…some of the fun and excitement seems to be absent, with only efficiency and purpose left behind.

Only Elma and I seem to notice it, and the others happily chat as they head towards the mission board. We arrive at Eleanora's desk and I happily announce, "We're back Mom!"

She gives me an odd look and says, "I take it the mission went without a hitch, given your relaxed demeanor."

"Pretty much, yah."

Lin cuts in with "Hey Eleanora, what color do you think would go best with Elma's eyes? Red or black?"

Eleanora shoots me and Elma a quick glance and Elma looks away somewhat embarrassed while I simply shrug.

Turning back to Lin she says, "It's not just the eyes that you should consider Lin, her skin and hair also make the person. I would suggest black since that would accentuate those features best. But why do you ask Lin?"

She gets a sly grin and says, "Oh no reason, thanks for the tip Eleanora! C'mon girls, we need to help out a young maiden in love!"

Elma frowns and says, "Lin I appreciate this but-"

Irina and Mia both say at the same time, "No excuses!"

Elma sighs and says, "Ok I give. But let me finish up here first. I'll call you later."

"Ooook! Don't try to weasel out of this now!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." She replies dryly.

Gwin heads off to the Interceptor division while the others head towards the barracks. Eleanor turns a confused look towards me and asks, "What was all that about?"

"According to Lin, Elma's getting married."

"Ignore him Eleanora. What's up with the atmosphere all of the sudden? Cross and I noticed it when we got back, and It wasn't this way when we left a few days back."

"Leave it to you two to notice right away," she says grimly, "The sooner you know the better I guess. Over the past two days there have been a rash of Xeno killings, mostly Nopon."

"And I'm assuming it wasn't because of their business acumen?"

Eleanora gives a humorless smile and replies, "It would be nice if it was that simple, but there seems to be very little motive in the killings, if any."

I raise an eyebrow and say, "Not to sound overly callous here, but this sort of thing has happened before. Twice I think. What's so special about this case?"

"Because instead of just a few sporadic deaths of several different Xenos, this time it was thirteen different Nopon, all from either the Dopang or Dorian caravans and over the course of only two days."

Both Elma and I share a glance. Yah, that's a new one. That specific of a murder spree when things have been pretty peaceful the last few months would cause a nasty stir.

Elma nods and says to Eleanora, "Alright I appreciate the heads up Eleanora. Is there any leads on who might be responsible?"

She shakes her head and replies, "Nothing. No fingerprints, body fluids or anything like that."

I groan and say, "Sounds like the Definians all over again. Maybe we really should just scrap Fortun."

"Well until we know for sure I'll ask you to hold off on that. Besides, Erio and Lyvia are already interrogating Fortun, so we'll have something concrete soon enough."

Elma and I nod and finish up the mission transaction and head off to the barracks. I turn to her and ask, "So am I the only one that has a bad feeling about this latest news, or am I just hungry?"

She grimly nods and says, "No, my guts also telling me somethings up with this incident. Better yet, I also think things are going to get worse before the get better."

"The perfect feeling to end a successful mission with, am I right?"

"I'm going to stop by BLADE tower and see if I can get anything out of Vandham or Nagi. Chausson probably won't tell us anything we don't know."

I smile and say, "That's only because you don't know the right way to ask. He always tells me all sorts of-"

I get cut off mid-sentence by my comm using the special tone reserved for priority calls from BLADE HQ. I look over at Elma and see she also has a call. I look at it and see a message from Vandham asking us to attend a meeting four hours from now. No excuses.

I give a side glance at Elma and say, "Guess there's no point in buttering up the brass for details."

She looks tired and says, "True. Guess I'll have all the details I wanted and more."

I try to cheer her up and say, "Well the means we have four hours downtime before the bad news hits. What do you say we go to the mess and be miserable together over the cold leftovers of whatever was last served?"

That gets a chuckle from her and she replies, "A tough deal to turn down, but I think I'll go shower first and catch some sleep before the meeting. I get the feeling I'll need it."

I shrug and say, "More lukewarm leftovers for me then. See you at the meeting."

I lose my grin as we part ways and give a small sigh. Every instinct I have is telling me that things are about to simultaneously go south and sideways, and my instincts are seldom wrong.

Unfortunately.

I totally would not mind being proven wrong in this case.

* * *

Three and a half hours later Elma and I walk into HQ and I see quite a few familiar faces. Hope turns towards us and gives a radiant smile and happily exclaims, "Cross! It's so good to see you again! Are you the security detail on this mission? I guess we don't have to worry about any sort of danger during the talks!"

She gives me one of her unreserved hugs that could crush a Cantor and I wince, saying in a slightly pained voice, "It's good to see you too Hope. Could you loosen your grip a bit though? I feel like I'm getting stepped on by a Suid here."

"Oh, sorry. I got a little carried away."

I grin and happily reply, "Nothing new about that. But slow down on the details a little bit, this is all new info for me."

"Yah Hope let the poor guy get his bearings, he's been here ten seconds and you've told him like half the plan."

I look around the side of Hope's head and see Alice and Eliza smiling as they walk up alongside her. Patting Hope's shoulder Alice continues with, "Vandham and Chausson can take care of all the boring briefing and stuff, why don't you talk about something more fun than that?"

Eliza gives a frown and says, "I'd hardly call this disaster boring Alice. I wish you would be a little more serious about this."

"That's your role Eliza. Mine's to be the goofball who no one takes seriously, which subsequently makes you look even greater by comparison. Perfect system."

I grin as I shake the hands of NLA's experts on Xeno communications and customs. The whole little drama with Alex doesn't seem to have slowed them down at all, if anything they seem more active than usual.

The reunions don't stop there as I hear a deep, vibrating voice say, "Ah Cross. It is a pleasure to be working with you again. My Ovah hinted that this mission would be a crucial one to our cause, it puts me at ease to know you'll be traveling with us."

Sun'Barac, president of the Xeno representative group, comes up to me and gives a slight bow of his head.

I return his greeting and ask, "Good to see you too pal. How's the presidency we got through totally legitimate methods treating you?"

Amusement in his voice he replies, "It has kept me busy, but my Ovah has agreed that we made the right choice. It is also gratifying on a personal level to play such an important role in the cities future."

"Sound like leadership is treating you well."

I take a look around and find everyone else looking at me oddly. Whoops. Probably shouldn't have openly hinted at Sun'Barac and I rigging the election. I'm still getting used to Orphean facial expressions, but I bet Sun'Barac came to the same conclusion I did that openly admitting our tampering wasn't a slick move.

Lucky for us Vandham, Chausson and two other figures walk in at that moment, sparing us any awkward explanations. To my surprise it's Ackwar and Tora who are tagging along. Upon seeing me and Elma Tora fluffs his back arms out and says in a shocked voice, "Huh?! Friends Cross and Elma are ones going to caravan? Hehehe, then negotiations will be simple! Friends are going to make Tora's job much easier!"

I give Ackwar a questioning look but he merely shrugs and says, "It's kind of a long story yah? I'll let your commanders do the talking bits."

Vandham grins his usual predatory grin and growls, "Seem's like your pretty popular kid. Why don't you just have all your buddies here give you the details and I'll go somewhere where I'm actually needed?"

Elma laughs and says, "Don't be like that commander, I'm sure your have your own special brand of information that we'll appreciate later."

"Your not even trying to hid your flattery now are yah? Well whatever, let's get to business here, we're on a tight schedule people!". This last part he says in his booming voice that could pain the ears of a deaf person.

We all take a seat, or stand depending on preference, and look to Vandham and Chausson. Chausson clears his throat and says, "All right I'll keep this to the point. The recent string of Xeno murders have caused us a problem that we need to address right away. Put simply the Nopon Dorian and Dopang merchants living in the city have expressed worry about operating in the city given their losses and are planning to return to their caravans."

Elma raises an eyebrow and asks, "They think that would be safer than staying in the city? Those caravans could be razed to the ground if the Ganglion put any significant effort into locating and destroying them."

Chausson nods and says, "Completely true, but thus far that hasn't happened, and they believe that their caravans will still remain safe havens. I hardly need remind you that any loss of Nopon business would severely hurt our ability to obtain precious ores and unique samples of Miran ecology, never mind the information they gather in their travels. This mission goal is simple. Go to the Dorian caravan and convince the Nopon merchants that maintaining business is NLA is both possible and safe. To that end Ackwar will accompany you, to show evidence of our ability to catch these murderers."

I turn to Ackwar and ask, "You already tracked down these guys? Pretty damn impressive pal."

He acts all shy and says, "Well it wasn't just me yah know? I thought it might be the work of some Definians, so Erio and Avi helped me out a lot. Like a lot a lot. In fact they were the ones who caught our first suspect."

Vandham cuts in and says, "Bottom line is all of you have some sort of connection to Nopon personally or are constantly working with them. Elma, Cross. I want you two to focus on keeping everyone else safe. If this latest mess is a coordinated effort, chances are the ambassadors will be targeted."

I raise my hand and say, "I appreciate the faith in our abilities commander, but isn't this kind of a skeleton crew for such an important mission?"

"A smaller group that knows how to work together is more effective than a large group that doesn't know what it's doing kid."

"Would you object if we added two more members? They also have good connections with the Nopon so they'll be great at pulling double duty if it comes to it."

Vandham shrugs and says, "Two is fine by me, but who do you have in mind?"

I glance at Elma, who smiles as we both think the same thing. Our gaze shifts to Tora who looks at us in confusion.

* * *

"OH MY GOD. Tora it's so good to see you again! Ah you're just as adorable as ever, you little fluff ball!"

Being picked up and hugged by Mia, Tora looks like he's about to have an aneurysm. "How many times must Tora tell friend Mia? Tora _handsome,_ not adorable! And put Tora down!"

Letting go of him Mia is still brightly smiling and says, "You say it your way I'll say it mine. Never mind that, how are your parents? Are they still doing their thing?"

Tora instantly shifts gears and proudly smiles, saying, "Mamapon and Dadapon have stopped answering calls from Tora! They obviously consider Tora rival merchant and no longer wish to give free information on their whereabouts! Tora so proud of himself!"

Mia looks shocked and says, "Wait, they ignore you?! Isn't that kinda, well…harsh?"

Tora looks befuddled and says, "Harsh? Ignoring son who just became rival merchant is highest sign of respect! Tora does not expect to talk to parents for at least one more year!"

Mia still looks like she got punched in the face and I sympathetically pat her on the back, saying, "When in Rome…"

"That still seems pretty mean. I mean if my parents had ignored me for a year as a sign of respect…the Nopon have some pretty weird family values."

"Yah well they also live inside of their pack animal's stomachs. After that specific revelation I'm not even surprised at their weirdness anymore."

She makes a face and says, "Ugh don't remind me chief."

I turn back towards the landing pad and see the rest of the group walking towards us. Hope is leading our rag-tag delegation of a detective Ma-non, an Orphean president and two humanitarian workers. Yah, I think rag-tag works to describe this best.

Mia turns towards me and says, "So Elma and Lin were telling me that all these guys over there are your friends Chief. How do you get to so many people to like you?"

"It's my sparkling personality obviously. Speaking of which I need to introduce you, so put on your best manners. The dark haired one leading them looks nice, but she packs a mean bite."

Hope frowns as they walk up and indignantly says, 'I heard that Cross. That's so mean of you, since when am I aggressive towards others?"

"You might think you're being a good samaritan when you refuse rewards you don't need Hope, but the way you refuse them can get a bit insistent. It's like a reverse mafia where you'll break their kneecaps if they _don't_ keep their money."

Alice and Eliza laugh at that while Hope looks shocked. I chuckle at her expression as I turn to everyone else and say, "Ok quick introductions. Mia, this is Hope, one of BLADE's best Mediators and a pathologically nice person. Alice and Eliza here are two of NLA's best Xeno relations workers. Sun'Barac is the president of the Xeno representation organization, while Ackwar is probably NLA's best investigator. Guys, this is Mia. She's probably the luckiest BLADE alive, and that means we're lucky to have her on this mission. Remember to rub her belly."

Hope frowns at me and says, "You've been spending a little too much time with Bozé haven't you Cross?"

"Guilty as charged."

Mia looks affronted and says, "Hey if there's any belly rubbing that's going to be going around, Tora should be our main recipient. I mean look at how round and soft he is!"

Tora gives a defeated sigh and mutters, "Tora not care anymore. There no dignity left in Tora's life."

Ackwar and Sun'Barac just look confused about the whole belly rubbing thing.

With introductions out of the way we load up into the transport helicopter and wait for our escorts to arrive. No cargo transports for us this time, we get to ride to Oblivia in style. I check my timepiece and right on time I see two humanoid figures fly through the sky to our position.

As they get closer the shapes resolve into the figure of two Skells: a Verus and an Urban. I give a wistful sigh as they alight upon the landing deck and take up positions on either side of the chopper. I miss my Lailah at times like these. Hopefully those repairs get a move on.

My earpiece crackles and Lin's smug voice comes through with, "Is that a look of disappointment on your face Cross? Oh right. Your Skells busted and you have to ride along with all the other poor unfortunates. Such a shame."

"As your older brother I reserve the right to smack the smartass out of you first opportunity I get."

"And just how is you poor Skell-less self going to catch me? I can fly you know."

"No matter what you may like to think, you can't live in there forever kiddo. I'll bide my time."

"You have me shaking in my boots."

I roll my eyes and pick a seat next to Ackwar. I want to ask him how they tracked down the perpetrators anyway.

Elma's voice comes over the speakers and announces, "Is everyone all set? Then our next stop is Oblivia, hope everyone brought their sunscreen."

There's a slight shake as the rotors start up and we leave NLA behind, as Elma and Lin flank us. Negotiating with the Nopon…this is going to be a trial in patience.

* * *

"Welcome to what our Nopon mutual friends refer to as, 'Sandy Bum' canyon ladies and gentlemen, hope you enjoy your stay at the hottest and itchiest place on Mira!"

I give a lopsided smile as I descend the ramp and say, "That's a killer sales pitch you have there Milly, you should run that as an advertisement back in NLA."

She smiles in return and replies, "I thought you'd like that one Cross, us sarcastic people have to stick together after all."

"You can snark your way aboard the copter and help me carry some of my stuff then." I joke as I shake her hand. I have a _huge_ amount of respect for Milly. Being the liaison to a caravan of merchant Nopon must require a level of patience and self-control Ghandi would kill for. I know if I had her job I'd be putting a gun to my head a few days in.

She turns her attention to Elma and Lin's Skells as they land and says in an awed voice, "Holy moly…never thought I'd get the opportunity to actually meet the actual members of Team Elma…one more thing off of my bucket list."

I look at her out of the corner of my eye and say, "You know, I'm also a member of said team. Why don't I get any hero worship?"

""Too late for that. I already know what you're really like. Hero worship is absolutely out of the question."

"And there goes another chunk of my self-esteem."

"Oh please. You'll just cry all the way to a mirror."

I chuckle at that and say, "Victory goes to you this time. Until we meet again on the field of verbal battle."

"I anticipate yet another crushing win on my part."

"Don't get too cocky, or else I'll tell Lin you actually hate Nopon."

"You wouldn't!"

I laugh as I grab my bag and other equipment off the chopper and head towards our temporary tent. The meeting is beginning in an hour, might as well get settled in until it starts.

* * *

The Dorian caravan is a pretty busy place, with a lot of bizarre items for 'sale' at ridiculously high prices. The Nopon who reside here are mostly in the sale of ores and metals, which they shape into all sorts of abstract sculptures and totems, or just sell in bulk. Almost half of the fifty or so tents spread throughout the encampment have some sort of stall or bazaar with said items for sell. L would love this place. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him for a few weeks now. I'm not too worried though. He left a note at his shop apologizing for his sudden departure at the, 'drop of a shirt', but he and his new best friend Professor B wanted to go on a 'street trip' and couldn't wait any longer. Must be nice having that much personal freedom.

Actually the person who would love this kind of cultural exhibit as much as L would be Celica. Maybe next time I have some time off and my Lailah gets repaired I can show her around here. Milly and Tora can put in a good word for us and I might be able to actually buy something she would like…Oh god, ever since Mia and the rest put that bloody idea about dating Celica in my head I can't get rid of it.

I sigh and make a mental note to ask Boze or Frye about relationship advice. All I know is stuff I learned from media, and I don't trust that junk one bit since Yelv is always complaining about how pick-up lines he gets from movies never work. Hopefully they have some useful ideas. Although come to think of it Boze doesn't seem the family type, he's so devoted to his teachings it never seems like he does anything else. And Frye…well he might have a lot of experience with one-night stands or short lived flings, but I'll pass on that.

Godammit if Lao was here I could ask him. He was married _and_ had akid. One more thing that asshole has to answer for when we drag him out of the Lifehold. I give a deep sigh and reflect on what Irina said. I really _am_ clueless when it comes to my own personal affairs. And It doesn't help one damn bit that I can't recall any of my past memories of Earth to serve as guidelines. Heck, for all I know I might have been a gigolo and it wouldn't help my current self at all.

This is the actual difficulty with having memory loss. While it sucked at first, picking up on Earth customs and sayings was relatively easy. Within a few months I was able to hold steady conversations without consulting an urban dictionary every few minutes. What couldn't be replaced, however, was who knows how many years of social interaction and conversation. For me those weren't ingrained skills a lifetime had tempered, I basically had to start over from scratch. I can talk to people easily, and can alter my speech or attitude to match the person I'm interacting with. But I still have difficulty with more mercurial feelings like love or affection. I understand the idea, but have no idea how to put it into practice. At least I've gotten a lot of practice with the concept of friendship, thank the stars for that.

I shake my head and focus on the here and now. I hate getting all sappy and depressed about my amnesia. I can easily think of worse handicaps to have, what I should be doing is counting myself as lucky. I give another sigh and glance at my timepiece. Ten minutes to go until the meeting starts, I might as well get there early.

* * *

"Mujiji know perfectly well that friends mean Nopon no harm, and have even died protecting Nopon caravan many times. Friend Milly is loved by all Nopon, but even Mujiji can't allay fear of all Nopon merchants in caravan."

Sun'Barac nods and says, "We understand your position and responsibilities as a leader, but we have faced many trials such as this before and never considered abandoning the city entirely. What has brought about this turn of events?"

With a sigh Mujiji replies, "So many deaths in such a short time have frightened merchants of Dorian and Dopang caravans. They worry friends are no longer trying to provide safe work environment. Feh! Mujiji expect no less from Dopang Nopon, but for Dorian merchants to be so cowardly…Mujiji ashamed to be head of such organization."

I can sympathize with Mujiji. For a Nopon he's amazingly pragmatic and brave, as well as composed. He's harder to faze than most humans I know, seeing so many of his subordinates abandon lucrative contracts and ignore loyal customers must hurt his pride in a big way.

Eliza respectfully nods and consoles him with, "Don't be too hard on yourself or your fellow merchants Caravan Leader. To an extent it is true we let this happen. However we've taken steps to insure these crimes don't repeat themselves and to catch those responsible. To that end I'd like to introduce Ackwar. He's our lead investigator into these killings and the hunt for the criminals."

"Uhh, hi. I'm Ackwar and I'm not really any good with fancy words or stuff like that, so I'll just stick with facts, ok? There's these guys called Definians who can mimic the forms of other people ok? So we're pretty sure they were posing as people and then killing your Nopon colleagues without raising suspicions for awhile. Lucky for us, there's a couple of Definians who live in NLA who help us and we've already caught two of the ones who did the killing, yah?"

Eliza picks up the thread of conversation and says, "As you can see we've already taken measures that will keep this from happening again, hopefully this will help put your merchants minds at ease."

"Hhhmmmrrrgh…" Mujiji rumbles, "Friends done much for Nopon of Dorian caravan, even though ungrateful welps don't recognize it. While it shames Mujiji to say this, merchants will expect compensation for lost friends and profits."

I turn away at that. It sounds like negotiations are already over, most of the follow up will be about price haggling and a list of security measures BLADE will be taking. I'll happily sit out this part.

I exit the chiefs tent and stop dead for a second as what looks like almost sixty Nopon are amassed outside the entrance. I sneak a glance at Milly and Mia who are standing guard outside the tent. Well, less standing guard than answering a barrage of questions by the gathered Nopon. Milly looks relived that I showed up and asks, "Cross, what was decided, I need some answers man!"

I shrug and say, "Went pretty smoothly actually. They're talking about payments and a bunch of other stuff I'm happy to not be a part of, so we'll probably just have to wait for them to work it out before the final word comes through."

Not a second goes by before I hear about a dozen different voices going, "Friends city will be safe again?", "Friends have avenged merchant murders!", "Nopon should celebrate with feast!"

I give an inward sigh at the typical Nopon response to good news. When happy? Eat.

"Quite a touching scene humans."

My arm blurs as I clear my gun from it's holster and aim at the sound of the voice. I grimace as I sight on it's owner. Those mechanical yet lyrical rhythms belong to a Milsaadi who's standing no less than five meters away from the tent.

I immediately raise Elma and Lin who are patrolling in their Skells and report, "Keep an eye out you two. A Milsaadi just wandered into the middle of the caravan, not sure what he wants."

Elma immediately replies with, "Understood, stay sharp over there Cross, we didn't even notice him enter the caravan."

I re-focus on the Milsaadi who is still patiently waiting unarmed in the midst of potential enemies. I scowl at his relaxed attitude. Clearly he thinks he has something that'll grant him safe passage.

I speak and say, "Well? What's the deal pal? Are you a messenger or target practice?"

He gives the Milsaadi equivalent of a derisive snort and says, "I'm here to deliver an ultimatum to the leader of this caravan. Step aside human."

"Let's play the 'what if' game for a second here. What if I _don't_ let you pass and instead put a bullet through your head?"

"Then an innocent hostage dies and you get to explain why it couldn't be saved."

I click my tongue in irritation and lower my gun. Milly and Mia look at me like I'm crazy but follow my lead. I stick my head through the tent and say, "Sorry to interrupt here, but I need you guys outside like right now."

Confusion is written on everyone's faces but they do as I ask. Hope leads the way and immediately stiffens when she see's the Milsaadi standing in the middle of the crowd. She keeps her cool however, and moves to a spot where she can potentially block any sort of attack against our side.

Mujiji walks out and says to the Milsaadi, "Friend have business with Dorian caravan? Ganglion have been less than consistent customers, Mujiji hopes friend brings good deal."

"I guarantee it's the best deal you've ever seen. It's a great price too. I'm offering you the life of one of your kind. In exchange all you need to do is cut all ties with the city the Human's call NLA. If you don't comply with our request…well I'm sure you can imagine."

I sneak a glance at Ackwar and give him an almost imperceptible narrowing of my eyes. He looks confused for a second before his own eyes widen and he moves to my side.

I turn my attention to Mujiji who doesn't look all that impressed.

"Hmph!" he derisively snorts, "Does Ganglion friend really have Nopon hostage? Where name of merchant, where proof?"

The milsaadi remains silent but slowly pulls a video display device from his belt. I have to fight down the temptation to use this as an excuse to shoot him. He wordlessly flicks on the display which shows an image of a scared Nopon female surrounded by two other Milsaadi.

Already bad news for us but it gets worse when Mujiji gasps and says, "That Mujiji's wifeypon! Wulawa!"

Oh crap, the one rational Nopon and it's _his_ family that got taken hostage. Not what I'd call good news for us.

I can practically taste the smugness in the Milsaadi's voice as he says, "Your spouse then? An unlucky coincidence, we merely picked a hostage at random."

Mujiji lapses into silence and I get a bad taste in my mouth. As Vandham would put it, 'damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"Caravan leader, acquiesce to his demands."

I give a surprised look at Eliza who just spoke up but hold my tongue. Let's see where this goes.

She continues with, "We wouldn't want a relationship based on the sacrifice of an innocent. Do as he says, we won't interfere."

Mujiji looks ashamed of himself but faces the Milsaadi and steadily says, "Dorian caravan agrees to this. Nopon of Dorian will leave NLA and refuse all business with them. Now tell Mujiji how to get Wifeypon back!"

"Simple. Once we have confirmation that your caravan has left the Human's city we will return your fellow to you. You have six hours to do so."

Mujiji looks shocked and stammers, "Six hours?! Nopon scattered throughout human city, supposed to exit city in six hours _how_?"

The Milsaadi simply says, "That is your problem. The Nopon are known for being able to pack and leave in record time. You can manage."

Mujiji growls at this, and I can't really blame him. I'm pretty sure all the Nopon in the city could actually leave in five hours, so long as they weren't stopped by any suspicious guards but…well I wouldn't count on that.

The Milsaadi seems to consider the conversation over and turns around to leave saying, "Also, don't think you can just ignore this deal once your hostage has returned. If we see any sign of you disobeying our agreement, we'll return to this caravan, but it won't be for more hostages."

He says this menacingly to the surrounding Nopon, who are obviously cowed. He takes a step away from us and then stops, happily saying, "And don't get any funny ideas Humans. If I fail to return to my comrades, or at any point in my return feel like I am being followed, the hostage's life is forfeit."

I see Mia's face twist in anger and knew she had been thinking of doing just that. Suddenly I feel Ackwar's hand press something into mine. Not hesitating for a second I flick whatever it was with my thumb, and a small speck attaches itself to the edge of the Milsaadi's cloak.

He doesn't seem to notice.

Once he's out of sight I check my comm device and grin at what I see. I turn to Ackwar and give him a thumbs up.

"Nice work picking up on that Ackwar, I think we have ourselves a game plan now."

He gets all flustered and says, "Ah well you know, I mean you were pretty cool how you landed it like that, it's not like it was all me, so, uh thanks?"

I roll my eyes at Ackwar's awkwardness at handling praise and reply, "Let's meet with the others, we're on the clock here."

Ackwar and I head over to where everyone else is gathered, looking glum. Well not like I can blame them. Their mission got botched pretty badly, and there wasn't the slightest thing they could do to stop it. Mujij isn't present, being surrounded by the other Nopon, so I cut right to the chase.

"I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Which do you guys want first?"

Hope, the most depressed looking of all of us, ironically, replies "Bad news first."

"Ok the bad news is that if we want to pull off the good news, we need to run this by Mujiji. The sooner the better."

This get's everybody's attention and Alice says, "Slow down there Cross. Why would we need to talk to Mujiji about whatever it is your planning?"

I smile as a flip around my comm and show them the tracking beacon I flicked onto the Milsaadi's cloak.

Their eyes go wide and Sun'Barac approvingly says, "A brilliant move. And now I understand why you would want Mujiji's permission."

"Exactly. If this goes sideways, it's best that he gave us the go ahead to do it."

Eliza and Sun'Barac nod at each other. "We'll convince him Cross. Get whatever you need ready, we'll give you the go ahead as soon as we can."

I nod and motion for Hope as well as Mia to follow me. We're walking away when Milly suddenly grabs my shoulder and brings me to a halt. "Your not planning on leaving me behind are you Cross?"

I frown at her accusing tone. "You're welcome to come along, but this is gonna be a delicate mission we're attempting here. If you can't keep pace then don't take offense when you don't get to do much."

She rolls her eyes at me. "I wasn't posted here just because I can work well with the Nopon. I'm also pretty handy with a rifle."

"In that case, welcome aboard. Grab whatever weapons or gear you have then meet back here in ten minutes. We've got a VIP to extract."

* * *

Four hours later Elma, Mia, Milly, Hope and myself are positioned right outside the Milsaadi's hideout. Typical of the Milsaadi, it's damn near impossible to see it unless you know exactly where to look. From the air it's blocked by an overhang, and it's slanted slope into a small depression casts the whole thing in shadow. The two Milsaadi sentries are also ridiculously hard to find, since their cloaks are colored to match the surroundings and they're standing motionless among the rocks. The guy with the tracker on him isn't visible deeper down the depression, he must be keeping an eye on Wulawa. I slowly exhale as I ready myself to pull the trigger on this crazy plan.

Mujiji had been surprisingly easy to persuade. I think his exact word's were something along the lines of, "Friend's show Ganglion jerks what happens when push around Dorian caravan and take Wifeypon hostage!"

Which had given us the go ahead to try and pull off this stunt. Lin stayed behind since Skells aren't exactly stealthy, and her personal weapons of choice typically involve spray-and-pray with some explosions thrown in for good measure. Not exactly the best for a hostage rescue scenario. Instead she's waiting for us to give the go ahead and come flying over in her Skell to provide extraction and backup.

The rest of us are the meat of this op, and if one screws up, this whole plan is kaput. Not that I'm worried though. Hope has come a long way from her timid self and should be just fine. Milly is the wild card but she didn't seem worried at all once I told her what she had to do. And I don't think I've ever seen Elma mess up anything combat related. So all that leaves is me.

…Ok truthfully, I'm a little nervous. When it comes to rescuing captives, my record is shaky at best. Most of the time the people I'm supposed to save are already dead, partially dead, or executed once we move to actually rescue them. Heck, my second mission with Elma and Lin had been a rescue op, and it ended with all three of the captured people dead before we even got there.

I'm hoping this one goes a bit smoother. It had better. I spent nearly twenty minutes painstakingly crawling across burning desert sand into position with the chameleon on, which is about as fun as being locked in a cage with a starved Grex. But that's all taken care of now, and it's moment of truth time. I take one last breath and settle into my detached state of mind, where fighting is as easy and natural as breathing.

"Go."

I suit action to words and kick off into a full sprint towards the depression. I see the two hidden figures of the Milsaadi begin to move just before Milly and Elma open fire. Milly was certainly right about being a good shot, her three-round burst expertly catches the Milsaadi on the right and sends him spinning to the ground, a grey-blue splash of his blood on the rocks behind him. Elma…well I can count the number of times she's missed a target on one hand.

With fingers to spare.

Sure enough her target drops as well, which leaves things up to me and Hope. I clear the lip of the depression, barely four strides away from the Milsaadi, and see him pull his arm back to stab Wulawa. Time seems to slow as his arm shoots forward…and bounces off a shimmering barrier that sprang into place mere moments before impact. I grin at Hope's clutch timing.

Creating a barrier accurately over such a long distance must have required some insanely fast information input into her psycho launchers to make sure they put the barrier in the right place.

Regardless, it's game over for this guy now that I've closed the distance. He tries to take a step back to gain distance to pull a weapon, but I grab his arms and yank his head into mine so that his chin smashes into the front of my helmet. As he reels back I stay perfectly in step with him and slam my leg down on his knee, which breaks with a satisfying crunch.

Still stunned and now trying to balance on his one good leg, I haul my arm back and land a vicious right hook, amplified by the armor, right across where a humans jawline would be. With a sound like breaking wet glass he hits the ground hard and clumsily scrabbles for traction. I have no intention of letting him find it. I jam one of my blades through his back to pin him to the ground, and his head cranks around to look at me.

I smile humorlessly and say, "Remember when we played the what if game?"

I put two bullets into his skull to help jog his memory.

With that out of the way I turn to the cowering Nopon and say, "Relax, your safe no-"

"EEK! Alien come to kill Wulawa! Wulawa not taste good, alien find other dead alien much more tasty than Wulawa…"

I roll my eyes at the typical Nopon ability to put two and two together and come up with nineteen.

"It's alright Wulawa, we're friends of Mujiji here to help you. Besides, Nopon are too high in cholesterol."

Hope's voice crackles over the radio, sounding exasperated.

"Cross, could you be a little more sensitive to the traumatized hostage?"

"What? She's totally fine."

She gives a tired sigh and signs off. I laugh and turn to Wulawa, who's looking at me with a mix of hope and terror.

"Hubby..Hubbypon sent friends to rescue Wulawa?"

"Yup, now let's get out of here, you have a very worried spouse waiting for you back home."

"Oh Wulawa can't wait! Wulawa will make Hubbypon most satisfied Nopon by this time tomorrow."

"And we are now in too much information territory. C'mon lets move."

"Lead the way friend!"

* * *

Back outside the depression we're hidden among the rocks while we wait for Lin to arrive in her Skell. Milly is busy talking to Wulawa while the rest of us keep an eye out for any signs of approaching indigens or hostile Ganglion. I'm still waiting for my comm to cycle back into FrontierNav's communication network. We weren't sure what kind of sensors the Milsaadi kept handy and didn't want to risk any outbound signals giving the game away. While FrontierNav is way more comprehensive and powerful than it was months back, it still takes a few minutes for the comms to find and lock into a signal. Until then we're restricted to short range communications of about half a kilometer.

I'm feeling jumpy as I scan the horizon. It's like things went a little too well. Doug would probably mention something about Murphy's Law, and right now I'm fervently hoping that what can go wrong doesn't.

A beep brings me out of my reverie as my comm signals it's connection to the network, and I breath a little easier.

What causes my breath to again shorten is that immediately an urgent message from BLADE HQ is emblazoned on my display. I barely get a second to look at it before it displays an incoming call from Ackwar.

With a growing unease I answer and immediately wince as Ackwar shouts full force over the headset, "Cross! You have to watch out! The Sylvalum group! Their Nopon exploded! You have to check the Nopon for a bomb!"

My eyes go wide as I realize we never did a search of Wulawa for anything like that. I immediately rush over to Wulawa and pick her up to search for where a bomb might have been placed.

"Meh meh?! What is friend doing?! Is something on Wulawa?!"

I don't find anything on her and confirm with Ackwar, "You're _sure_ there was a bomb of some sort involved Ackwar? I didn't find anything."

He sounds like he's about to have a heart attack.

"I'm super sure! 100% sure Cross! Check everywhere!"

I frown as Elma suddenly comes rushing over in just as much of a hurry as I am.

"You got the message too Cross?"

"Yah but I haven't found anything. Wulawa, was there anything the Milsaadi gave you while they were keeping you? Any sort of trinket or something?"

Wulawa looks thoughtful for a second then shrugs.

"Aliens gave Wulawa fruit to eat because stomach kept rumbling, nothing else."

I mentally curse at how easy it is to trick a Nopon with food, and wonder how the Hell we're supposed to look inside her for a bomb. It's not like we can just cut her open, since that would kind of defeat the purpose of rescuing her in the first place.

I look at Elma for inspiration but she looks as stumped as I am. Great, now what? I try to rack my brains for a sudden inspiration but get nothing. The idea of leaving Wulawa behind just to save our own skins makes me sick to my stomach, so that's a no-

Wait.

Sick in the stomach?

Making a snap decision I yank open Wulawa's mouth.  
"Wash ish frensh doin-BLEEH!"

Her sentence is lost to time as I shove my hand down her throat. Everyone looks at me like I've gone mad, and Wulawa is madly convulsing and puking and waving her arms and if this situation wasn't so dire, I'd be dying of laughter.

After a second or two of barfing something pops out of her gut that doesn't look like digested food. It's roughly spherical in shape and pitch black, only slightly smaller than my closed fist…with a blinking light on it's side.

I don't waste any time in picking it up and chucking it as far away as I can. Elma immediately calls for everyone to, "Duck and Cover!"

We all hunker down among the rocks. Not a moment too soon either, as a massive shock wave blows a tidal wave of sand over our position and creates a deafening howling noise. I'm untouched inside of my armor, but everyone else is probably pretty dazed right now. I peek over the edge of my boulder and give a low whistle. That little box must have carried quite the kick to it, as there's a pretty decent crater almost six meters across and maybe a meter deep where it landed.

Everyone else drags themselves up, coughing as they try to get a clean breath of air. Wulawa stills looks to be in a state of shock following her forced upchucking, not to mention the blast trauma from the bomb.

I turn my attention skyward as the sound of a descending Skell draws closer, scattering the sand clouds and clearing our visibility.

My comm crackles to life and I can hear Lin almost on the verge of panic.

"Elma! Cross! You guys ok?! Respond if you can hear me!"

"Relax kiddo we're all fine down here. Although everyone else might be a little hard of hearing for a while, that bomb packed quite the oomph."

She gives a sigh of relief and starts scanning the area, keeping an eye out for any other nasties that might want to mess with us.

Elma shakes her head clear and looks at me with slowly focusing eyes.

"GOOD THINKING WITH THE STOMACH PUMPING!"

I guess she's still a little hard of hearing, no reason to shout at me when we're less than two meters apart.

"You should consider wearing a helmet! Being able to breathe normally at all times is a fair trade off for hiding my beautiful face, wouldn't you say?"

She snorts at this and immediately goes into a coughing fit. Guess making her laugh was a bad idea.

Milly, Mia and Hope also get it together, Milly immediately going to check on Wulawa, who's also coming around.

"Ugh…friends, is Wulawa still alive? Wulawa feel so very weak…"

Milly gives a wry smile and replies, "Well you're been through quite the wringer these last few minutes. But I think we're through the hard part now."

"Wulawa happy to hear that…friend Milly such a nice person…much nicer than scary friend in armor…"

The head of Lin's Skell turns towards me and I hear her exasperated voice go, "For crying out loud Cross, what did you do to the poor Nopon this ti-"

The back of her Skell suddenly blossoms a ball of fire and shrapnel as the engines explode, shoving the Skell forward to go crashing into the ground.

We all immediately turn about, trying to find the source of the explosion when Milly suddenly cries out, "Sniper!" and dives across Wulawa, pushing the Nopon out of the way…

…Pushing her out of the way of a high velocity kinetic round which punches right through Milly's chest, leaving an exit wound almost ten centimeters across and throwing her against the side of a nearby rock.

Hope manages to put a barrier up which deflects the next round, while Lin manages to get her Skell to stand and return fire with her B2 gatling cannon.

I roll over to Milly while there's covering fire to check on her condition…and see that the round went right through her heart and a decent portion of her lungs. She was probably dead half a second after the round hit.

I give an instinctive snarl and turn my attention back to where Lin is returning fire. There's an entrance to a nearby gulley that's been half slagged by Lin's barrage, but no sign of the attacker.

There she is. I see a glimpse of crimson cloak and the familiar figure of a Milsaadi female sliding away from Lin's shots and running away through the canyon.

I jump out from behind cover and immediately start sprinting after the Bastard at full force. I hear Elma yell over the comm, "Lin! Get the others to the camp and call for backup, and keep your eyes open! Cross and I will go after the shooter!"

There's about a three hundred meter open area between where the Milsaadi disappeared and our position. I cover it in about half a minute with Elma not too far behind. While the Milsaadi looked like she was making her way carefully through the gully's twists and turns, I ignore all that and aim right for the side of the cliff face to gain a better vantage point. The armor's boot grips allow me to bound up the side in no time flat, and I immediately throw my hopper cam in the air to track down our quarry.

No sooner does it reach it's max elevation than one those kinetic rounds blows it out of the sky, but that's fine by me.

Now I know where that sneaky little shit is. I kick off the ground and raise Elma on my comm as I go.

"Elma, once you enter the gulley, take your first right, keep following that until you can make a left. She's hiding out in that area."

"Copy that. Be there shortly."

I attach one of my two Zero cartridges to the barrel of my delta and hold it ready. I get a grim smile on my face as I close in on the Milsaadi's location. Being trapped in a tight corridor is about the worst possible place to be on the receiving end of a Zero cartridge.

I clear the lip of the ledge where she last was and throw myself to the side as a round goes screaming where my head was a split second ago. Tricky sod was waiting for me to show myself. Not so lucky for her, however, that I was prepared for a tactic like that and was already moving. I give a small smile as I center my gun on her chest and pull the trigger, triggering a burst of flame as the Zero round fires.

Zero rounds are the latest and greatest in terms of close range breach and clear scenarios. While urban warfare is about as common as a friendly Ictus here on Mira, the actual rounds themselves work perfectly fine for a variety of purposes. A Zero cartridge works much like a typical scattershot shotgun round works, in that there are several flechettes loaded into one larger shell and then scattered upon firing. Zero's have a few extra tricks to them that make them a real nasty piece of work though.

Firstly, the cartridge itself can be affixed to a wide variety of firearms, it's not reliant upon a specific firing device. Secondly, there's a small plasma charge affixed to the back of the shell that ignites shortly after the round is fired. This has the added bonus of _greatly_ increasing the speed of the individual flechettes, as well as giving them a lot of excess heat to bleed off.

It's the best of both a shotgun and a railgun. And it's about to turn my Milsaadi friend down there into a charred mess.

Or at least it would have, had she not already twisted away from the oncoming meat grinder. The barrel of her gun gets torn away in a spray of sparks, while the rock face behind that explodes in a shower of red hot fragments. Well whatever, I'd get do this by hand.

I slide down the side of the cliff and disengage my Ralzes from their binders and move towards the Milsaadi, who is simply staring at me and waiting.

Boy she is in for a nasty surprise if she's underestimating me. Given the opportunity to actually pay a closer look to this gal I notice a few things different from most other Milsaadi.

First: she's slightly taller than most other Milsaadi, breaking the two meter height standard.

Second: There's some odd protrusions around her joints that might be armor of some sort, not to mention her limbs seem to be slightly thicker than normal.

Lastly: she has a bright crimson cloak instead of the usual camouflaged one other Milsaadi prefer. I guess she's an attention seeker.

These differences aren't gonna save her now though. She's penned in by me in the front, and Elma is hot on my tail. End of the line for you pal.

I get within ten steps of her and immediately push off the ground and launch into a series of low swings aimed at her legs. The Milsaadi like to use a lot of aerial stunts and jumps, and if you aim low their preferred method is to leap over your swing, land behind you and run a knife through your spine.

But that's what I'm counting on. As soon as she goes for the leap I can immediately turn around and run her through with my sword faster than her blade can cut through my armor.

I'm so focused and sure of this plan that it takes me a second to realize that not only is she blocking each of my strikes without moving so much as a step, she's actually pushing _me_ back.

Ok, time to switch gears here.

She's using two retractable arm blades, so if I can parry one of those out of the way, I just earned myself a free shot at her body.

I deliberately let my left blade dip down, offering an easy way to get at my upper arm. I grin as she goes for it and suddenly switch to a reverse grip, knocking her approaching arm out of the way as my right blade goes in for a thrust at her center of mass.

It would have been a great plan if she hadn't moved equally as fast and grabbed my right sword with her _bare hand_ and friggin _stops_ it. I yank on the sword as hard as I can, creating a shower of sparks and a stream of blue blood as it slices backwards in her hand. I almost manage to disengage before she gives a sharp twist of her wrist that breaks my Ralzes in half.

Ok, maybe fighting this one mano y mujer was a bad idea.

I jump back but she grabs my left hand before I escape her reach and yanks me forward despite my armor. Her wounded hand then grabs onto the front of my chest plate and bloody _lifts_ me off the ground.

Unfortunately I think I know where she's going with this. Sure enough she slams me into the ground hard enough that little stars burst in front of my eyes and my head goes all fuzzy for a second.

Great. Not only is she stronger than me even when I'm wearing my armor, she's also my equal in CQC, if not better. This would be a really good time for Elma to show up.

I shake my head in an attempt to clear it, just in time to see her winding up her right leg for a vicious kick at my ribs. I barely manage to absorb the blow with a _muay thai_ hiss, and even that cracks the side of my armor. Probably would have caused a mess of internal damage if that had actually connected full force. Before she can pull her leg back I lock her ankle into my armpit and roll in her direction, hoping that I can at least knock her over.

I must have been just heavy enough, since after a second of resistance she topples over. I take the split second of disorientation that brings me to get her ankle in a _ju jitsu_ lock that would break the bones of any other normal humanoid. But as I'm learning, painfully, this particular humanoid is far from normal. Even with my most of my upper body weight bearing down on the lock, she's putting out enough counter pressure so that I'm just shy of the breaking point.

I snarl in frustration as she bends forward at the waist and grabs my right leg, before yanking on it and breaking me out of the lock. I lash out with my left leg and she rolls to the side to avoid my foot, letting go of my right as she does. We both get to our feet and face each other, ignoring our injuries.

Probably easier for her, since Milsaadi can just go ahead and dull their sense of pain, which is just plain unfair.

My heads still a little fuzzy, and my right side still feels like it got hit with a hammer from her kick earlier. To my relief she's not unscathed either. Her right hand is still dripping blood, and she's favoring her left leg. While my lock didn't break the ankle, it clearly damaged it.

I refocus as she moves into a crouch…and nearly loses her head as Elma comes from behind with a vicious slash. I immediately rush forwards to catch her with a pincer movement. If Elma and I can come at her from two sides while she has an injured leg, we can win, regardless of her unexpected toughness. She tries to turn to face us in a semi-defensible position, but is a split second too late. We arrive at the same time, Elma aiming for her head and me aiming for her leg with a kick.

But for what feels like the dozenth time in the past few minutes, I get a nasty surprise. She bends her left leg so that the knee joint connects with my shin and deflects most of the force of my kick. Her right arm gets in the way of Elma's swords and they lodge themselves into her upper bicep, halting their momentum without cutting through. Then in a maneuver I wish I could replicate, she somehow spins her supposedly injured right leg in a blindingly fast kick towards my neck. I manage to get an open palm in front of the blow to absorb some of the force, but it still feels like I got hit by a truck.

There's a blast of white fire and I dully feel my head collide with something. I weakly claw at my neck, since it feels like someone poured molten lead into my veins, while simultaneously beating my head with a jagged rock.

In a word: OW.

Ignoring the pain for now I haul myself to my feet and try to focus on the fight. I'm treated to a blurry image of three Elma's fighting three Milsaadi, which doesn't make any sense to my brain at all.

I must have got hit harder than I thought.

I give my a head a hard shake, which sends a wave of pain through my skull that leaves me gasping for air and trying not to puke.

Hey, at least that helps me focus.

I hear a sudden gasp of pain and see Elma with blood streaming down the side of her face, being pressured by her assailant into a corner.

I force my eyes to focus and attach my last Zero cartridge to the front of my Delta, which is still in one piece despite the pretty brutal thrashing it's gone through. While I would normally never fire a Zero round when there's friendlies right in the line of fire, this is hardly a normal situation.

Besides, right now the Milsaadi is perfectly aligned between the two of us, her bulk will take most of the shots. I sight down the barrel and pull the trigger, and a firestorm of metal takes her directly in the back. The kinetic force knocks her forward, and she barely manages to get her arms beneath her before rolling to the side to face me again.

Which is actually really bad, because a close range Zero round can stop a charging Suid in it's tracks, they carry that much stopping power. Granted, her back is smoking and she's definitely moving slower than before, but _damn dude._ Sign me up for whatever diet she's on.

Both Elma and I drag ourselves to our feet and assume ready stances as she does the same. Neither of us get a chance to make a move though, as two of Oblivia's quick response Skells fly right above the canyon before looping around to make another pass. Our reinforcements got here in the nick of time I'd say. I look back at the Milsaadi only to find her staring back at me with an intensity that is straight up uncomfortable. The moment's broken as she gives me a strangely human nod before turning around and making a break for the next turn in the canyon.

I snarl and try to line up a clean shot on her but my body doesn't seem to be in any hurry to listen to me. Even though that Milsaadi rat is moving a lot slower than before, I can barely move at all.

She's going to get away.

I curse under my breath and limp over to Elma, who heavily sat on the ground once she left our field of view. The left side of her head is one big mass of bloody tissue, but thankfully most of it has congealed. I give an exhausted sigh and force some levity into my voice.

"Looks like your head is harder than her fist."

She wryly smiles at my joke and forces herself to stand.

"And you should look at yourself in a mirror. It's like you just got stepped on by a milesaur."

"Feels like it to. I hope we don't have to do anything else on this mission, because I'm beat. In more ways than one."

"You won't get an argument from me on that point."

* * *

Five hours and a decent amount of painkillers later, we're finally wrapping up our assignment and heading back to NLA. The vast majority of the beating I took was centered around my skull, which left me with a migraine that could kill a Simius.

As if the amnesiac needed to risk any more brain damage.

Mujiji is seeing us off as we load into the transport, gratitude written all over his face. I had my armor's recording function running the entire time we were on the mission, so our rescue and subsequent delivery of Wulawa back to the caravan had a bit of a dramatic ring to it. Milly's sacrifice was the clincher. She was friends with a lot of the caravan residents, and hearing how she saved Wulawa at the cost of her life convinced the Nopon that sticking with us is the right thing to do.

I'm pretty sure Milly would be happy to hear that.

Not that the Ganglion using the Nopon hostages as bomb delivery services did much to endear them to their cause. The news of how the Sylvalum caravan was attacked also made the Nopon consider that listening to the Ganglion's demands might not guarantee their safety.

Regardless, we can say mission accomplished. I glance over to the pod where Milly's body is being stored and give an exhausted sigh. I know that she's not really dead, and that her consciousness is still hanging around in the Lifehold, but seeing people I like get 'killed' still seems uncomfortably final to me.

I cut off that train of thought before I start to get all mopey. Milly would roll her eyes at me getting all depressed over someone who isn't dead in the first place, and frankly I agree.

I look up as four other people board the copter, and I can't help but smile as I look at Lin's face. Her Skell's flight pack got totaled by some sort of thermal grenade our Milsaadi Badass fired at the start of the ambush. She could either drive home over the course of quite a few days, or ride in the transport with the rest of us while it get's airlifted back for some repairs. It warms my heart to see her humbled a bit. Ackwar and Hope, who were following her, look slightly uncomfortable at her angry attitude while Mia seems totally indifferent.

I smile grandly at her and put on my most benevolent expression.

"Welcome aboard NLA's finest mode of transportation Miss Lin. We saved a window seat just for you, so if any unexpected turbulence happens, be sure to hold on tight so you don't fall out of the vehicle."

Good thing her eyes aren't lasers, or I would have been crisped by the glare she shoots my way. It takes everything I have not to burst out laughing.

Turning away from Lin, who's sulking in a corner of the transport, I look towards Hope, who's staring at Milly with a faraway look in her eyes.

I know exactly what's going on inside her head right now. Hope has a ruthless sense of self-responsibility. She's probably blaming herself for not getting a shield up in time to save Milly, or thinking something even dumber like she should have taken the bullet instead of Milly.

"Hey, Hope."

She breaks off her gaze and meets my eyes.

"While it's fine to feel responsible for mistakes you can fix, feeling guilt over every little twist that happens on the battlefield isn't going to help you or anyone else. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Mia chimes in with, "Yah Hope, we all kinda goofed on this one. Heck, we had both the Chief and Elma with us and things still fell apart a little. And at the end of the day it was still mission accomplished, so lighten up!"

Not the most delicate way to put it, but still the right thing to say. Hope seems to be a little more at ease though, and gives us a sincere smile.

"Thanks you two." Her gaze drift's over to the outside of the transport where Sun'Barac, Alice and Eliza are talking to a group of Nopon.

"Do you think those three will be ok? The caravan might be attacked again."

I shrug and simply reply, "They have a job to finish. Besides, what with Milly gone I bet BLADE HQ is gonna be devoting a few more military assets to the caravan. They'll be fine."

Seeming to accept that Hope leans back and closes her eyes as if to rest. I turn to Ackwar and ask, "You mentioned the Sylvalum caravan came under the same attack we did and didn't fare so well. How's the damage?"

"The Nopon took a pretty big hit, something like twenty-seven dead and a lot more wounded. Pretty bad stuff y'know? The BLADE's involved didn't make it, they were too close to the blast."

I wince.

"Yah that's pretty bad alright. And thanks again for telling me in time about the bomb Ackwar, I owe you big time for that."

"Aw heck Cross, we can call it even for when you helped me out with Powell ok? You know I get all nervous with praise and everything, right?"

I smile and lean back, closing my own eyes as I do so.

"Dunno what I did to deserve a friend like you Ackwar, but I'm glad I did it."

I hear Lin mutter under her breath, "It probably wasn't being nice to your little sister that's for sure."

This time I do break out laughing.

* * *

Nahum _had_ been in a good mood. Considering that her recent attempt to sabotage the Human's and curry favor with other Ganglion forces was largely a failure, it was surprising that she had been content at all.

While the initial portion of the plan had worked smoothly, the Human's had reacted quickly, killing some of her best operatives and impressing the Nopon cowards. Even the Sylvalum caravan bombing had accomplished little, with only a couple dozen largely inconsequential deaths to show for their effort.

But an unexpected opportunity had presented itself to Nahum. While moving to observe the operatives working in Oblivia, she had arrived just in time to see the Human from the transport footage, along with the warrior known as Elma, eliminate her subordinates and rescue the hostage.

Seeing a chance to eliminate the two of them in one instant she had triggered the bomb to detonate, only to see it explode far away from the Human's as they managed to remove the device.

Far from being dismayed, Nahum was both impressed and gratified by this turn of events.

The reason for her relief being that Nahum was…different from other Milsaadi.

Milsaadi assassins are trained from infancy to perform their missions with swiftness and use whatever means necessary. Underhanded or 'dishonorable' methods are a large factor in their success. While Nahum could perform these actions just as well as any other Milsaadi, and put duty before her own desires, the truth was far different from what one would expect of the head of a Milsaadi assassination corps.

The truth was that Nahum _liked_ to fight. Straight up, one on one fights to the death provided a sense of joy that Nahum couldn't find anywhere else. She had seen the armored human and immediately fantasized about a duel between the two of them. But there was an order to things that Nahum couldn't ignore. She had aimed at the Nopon hostage amid the aftermath of the explosion, but events seemed to conspire against her even then.

A human had noticed her and blocked the shot, while the Human Skell had recovered and begun suppressing fire. Then she had a stroke of genius. While eliminating the Nopon was no longer a realistic option, she could accomplish an arguably more important goal.

Even better, she could do so in the most cathartic and gratifying way possible.

Luring the Human's had been easy. The rest of the fight? That had been a far more heated contest.

While Nahum had known that the armored Human was an astounding warrior, she was forced to admit that her expectations fell far short of the actual thing. Even with Nahum's body enhancements that gave her strength and speed greater than the Human, not only had the alien held his own, he had even wounded Nahum in the midst of their contest.

While their duel was interrupted and Nahum had to retreat in the end, such a fierce contest had left her in a generous and forgiving mood.

Which was rapidly fading as she listened to the remaining Ganglion commanders squabble like carrion birds over a decayed carcass.

The remaining Ganglion leaders had agreed to meet at Sylvalum's Anvil Rock One stronghold in order to select a leader that would hopefully provide a central direction for the Ganglion to take on Mira. The Ganglion had always operated under a strict hierarchy: a power vacuum was an unnatural state for them to be in.

The three main candidates had initially been Nahum herself, Dadaan, the self-styled 'Strongest Prone' and the Marnuck Sadar. Nahum had secretly been hoping to support Sadar in his bid for leadership, as he was a brilliant tactician. While he had the unofficial title of 'Sadar the Unhinged', due to his erratic behavior and occasional mood swings, Nahum believed that having a feared yet capable leader was a necessity for the Ganglion.

All of which meant nothing now, since Sadar had been killed by a sudden Human ambush against Hilal Stronghold, which had subsequently fallen. And given Nahum's largely failed mission to split NLA apart, as well a the loss of several of her Definian and Milsaadi subordinates, Dadaan was almost guaranteed to win the spot.

Which Nahum absolutely could not allow to happen.

Dadaan was an idiot. He had initially escaped from Ganglion servitude when they first arrived on Mira, but once they had fractured after Luxaar's death he returned to gain followers through brute force and intimidation. While Nahum would grudgingly admit that he did have the necessary cruelty and strength to run the Ganglion, his appreciation for tactics and espionage was slightly less than zero. Which would absolutely guarantee that the Ganglion on Mira would lose against the Humans. While Dadaan would have been an excellent choice when the Human's first arrived on Mira, since they were militarily weak then, the Ganglion no longer had such an advantage.

Humanity had been given time to expand their forces and technology, as well as gain allies. Even if all the Ganglion's military power was gathered and aimed at the Human's this very second, it was no longer a certainty that they would win. True, they would hold an advantage, but given their luck as of late Nahum wasn't willing to bet on their odds.

Besides, even assuming Dadaan did exactly that, he would do so haphazardly and carelessly, while the Humans would slowly chip away at their forces with hit-and-run tactics until they could win a more conventional battle.

In short, Nahum had to do something if they wanted to survive.

Halting her rumination as the former aide to Luxaar stood up, she forced herself to focus on what was to come.

"I appreciate all the remaining Ganglion commanders and representatives arriving to meet with each other today in order to decide on our next leader. In order-"

"Enough talk! Time should not be wasted when our enemies roam free!"

Nahum gave a private mental sigh as Dadaan immediately stood up and threw the meeting into disarray. She had anticipated at least two minutes would pass before Dadaan got bored.

"I am to be selected as new leader of Ganglion! Is that not what all of us are gathered here today to decide?!"

Having a sudden stroke of inspiration, Nahum leaned forward and spoke, "Your bid for leadership isn't uncontested Dadaan. There are other's that are being considered as well."

Dadaan threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Puny assassin think she can take leadership over Dadaan? Assassination did not go so well in Oblivia, did it coward? You still bear the wounds of your laughable failure!"

Nahum was surprised that Dadaan even knew about her failure, considering his aversion to anything resembling intelligence work, but in this case it worked even better for Nahum's plan.

Scoffing, she replied "These injuries are one's I _personally_ earned attempting to earn us victory over the Humans. Where are your scar's of battle? Or did you perhaps run away from Scabaland Fortress without even attempting to fight? Much like you did when we first came to this planet?"

Dadaan puffed himself up to his full height, an impressive three and a half meters, and looked at Nahum with open murder in his eyes.

"I bear no injuries because I am unbeatable in combat! I have earned the title of Strongest Prone through countless trials, a skulking assassin like you would never be able to beat me in a fight!"

While Nahum did find the idea of fighting Dadaan to the death an attractive one, the stakes were too high for Nahum to indulge in her hobby.

While boasting about his abilities, Dadaan had stalked over to where Nahum sat and glared down at her, daring Nahum to make a move. Instead she merely sat and gazed calmly at Dadaan.

No one even breathed until Dadaan snorted and smugly said, "All talk and no action. Typical for your kind." all while deliberately showing Nahum his back and walking back to his seat.

Four more reasons why Dadaan was an idiot.

One: He assumed Nahum was no different than any other Milsaadi, thus had no idea about her body's modifications.

Two: Since Nahum was injured, he felt there was no reason to fear any sort of attack by her.

Three: So confident of his unopposed ascension to leadership, he had neglected to wear any sort of armor to the meeting, carrying only his glaive.

Four: He had turned this meeting into a battle of personalities. Whoever won between them would appear to be the Alpha of the pack, and the others would follow whoever won. If Dadaan hadn't risen to Nahum's challenge, he would have assuredly been selected to lead regardless.

Four mistakes that spelled out death for Dadaan.

No sooner had he turned around did Nahum silently rise from her chair and make the first move.

forming a handspear with her left arm, she jammed it _through_ Dadaan's back to grab one of his two hearts, followed by a violent pull that yanked it through his back into Nahum's hand.

Giving a sudden croak, Dadaan immediately reached for his blade to fight back with.

Nahum gave a low grunt, impressed. Immediately reacting even though he must have been in borderline shock was quite the feat.

Still pointless though.

Activating her plasma blade attached to her right wrist, Nahum slashed upwards through Dada's sword arm, followed by a downward's cut that severed his leg below the knee.

Collapsing on his face, missing half his limbs, with his heart still in Nahum's hands, Dadaan could only wetly gasp as everyone stared silently.

Speaking calmly, Nahum stated "Since I just beat the Strongest Prone, what would that make me?"

Not expecting an answer she squeezed her fist, crushing Dadaan's heart in a shower of blood. There was around another thirty seconds of panicked wheezing as Dadaan writhed on the floor until he finally went silent.

No one moved.

"I suppose," Nahum said, speaking even more softly, "That would make me the leader of the Ganglion."

Sitting back in her chair, still covered in Dada's blood, Nahum looked around calmly at the others who were assembled.

No one met her eyes.

"I'll take the silence to mean you all agree with my conclusion."


	3. Chapter 3: Public Relations

Chapter 3: Public Relations

"A child who is being abused on an ongoing basis needs to be able to function despite the trauma that dominates his or her daily life. That becomes the job of at least one ANP [alternate personality], whom the child creates to be unaware of the abuse and also of the multiplicity, and to "pass as normal" in the real world. The ANP is just an alter specialized for handling the adult world—in other words, the "front person" for the system."

― **Alison Miller** , **Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control**

"Is it just me or have we been having a lot more meetings that normal lately?"

Bozé merely shrugs nonchalantly and replies, "First time I've been called in here for almost a month. It's merely you who's been called in repeatedly by the leadership."

"But I've been on my best behavior."

Wolf gins his usual grin that uncomfortably resembles an actual wolf's smile and says, "Not easy being popular is it rook? I heard a rumor that Vandham and Nagi are considering getting a special Comm device with just your number on it."

"If they agree to change it to a light that shines in the sky when they need me, I'll allow it. And I thought by now you wouldn't be calling me rook."

"Around other's I sure wouldn't, but in this room you're definitely the greenest of greenhorns. Hell, Colonel Elma over here is the second youngest in terms of serving in the military, and she's got you trumped by a good couple of decades!"

Rolling her eyes Elma replies, "I hear it's not nice to talk about a woman's age Wolf."

He gives a booming laugh that echoes throughout the room.

"Must be why I'm still single! I better work on my manners then."

"Forget your charming personality Wolf," Corwin cut's in as he smiles smugly "You of all people should know that calling our boy mascot here a Rookie ain't true by a half. One year on this planet and he's accomplished just about as much as I have in an entire military career."

Grinning at me in an disquietingly feral manner Wolf happily says, "Exactly! If it weren't for that damned amnesia or whatever I'd have nothing to hold over his head. Seriously, _someone_ has to remember you from the White Whale rook."

"I might have been a stowaway and kept that a secret from all of you this entire time."

"Ha! If that's the case then I'm not even mad, since you're the best damn actor to ever exist in the history of forever."

Bozé proudly puffs his chest and looks directly at Wolf and Corwin.

"No pupil of mine would ever stoop to such a villainous act. Cross could resist even Mara itself, should he ever be needed to."

"You only say that because you haven't seen me when I'm hungry sensei."

"His one flaw is that he's acquired a barbed tongue as of late. A shame considering his purity when we first met."

"Why does _everyone_ I know think I'm such an asshole now? Do I really come off like that?"

I'm stopped from getting an answer by the conference door opening and Doug walking in. Not giving him a chance to say anything I immediately ask, "Hey Doug, do you think I'm an asshole? Or am I actually a really good guy at heart who's just misunderstood?"

I hear Corwin mutter, "That's not really what the question was."

Doug looks completely lost.

"Where the heck did that question come from? Is this a bet of some kind?"

"No questions, just answer. Yes I'm a right Bastard or no, I'm a saint. Which is it?"

"Hmm…I'd say you're a selfless guy that has a bad habit of putting others before himslef…but these days you certainly have a lot more snark than before."

I give a defeated sigh and go back to staring at the front of the room to avoid everyone else's smug looks.

Starting up a conversation among themselves, Bozé, Corwin and Wolf go back to ignoring the rest of us while we wait for the leadership to arrive. I keep watching Doug and Elma out of the corner of my eye however, since Elma's little shyness episode has me interested to see where this goes. As an added bonus seeing how they interact might give me some much needed information on how to approach a relationship.

Good God, saying that aloud makes me sound pretty damn pathetic.

I'm brought out of my reverie by the door sliding open again with Nagi, Vandham and Chausson walking through. I can feel the air subtly shift at their appearance. Everyone here has been in the game long enough to know that a briefing conducted together by these three means that some serious business is about to go down.

Nagi clears his throat and addresses us in his steady voice.

"I appreciate you all attending this meeting given your many responsibilities, and hopefully we can keep this short and to the point. To begin with I'm assuming you're all familiar with the recent trouble involving the Nopon caravans that was resolved by Elma and Cross?"

Everyone nods.

"Good, then I can skip straight to the purpose of our meeting. All of you are to create new squads that will ideally take part in high-profile BLADE missions, among the more routine tasks you undergo. These squads will consist of a mixed group of both Humans and our new Xeno allies. It's our hope that the missions you undertake will provide a visible show of solidarity between the residents of NLA and our Xeno neighbors. I imagine some of you are wondering why you were picked specifically among the many other BLADEs. Commander Vandham will explain our selections."

"Ok let's keep it sweet and simple. All of you have some sort of reputation widely known throughout NLA and a record of success. Corwin, your Pathfinder team has been at the forefront of who-knows how many new expeditions, you have quite the pack of people always waiting for your next readers digest of discoveries. Wolf, you're the meanest, nastiest BLADE we have who's had a hand in the training of a lot of active duty BLADEs. You're also considered sort of the guy everyone can go to for advice, and have a heck of a combat record. Bozé, Doug. You two are some of the best Harrier's we have, both inside and out of a Skell. You participation in the Lifehold recovery Op also made you minor celebrities. Lastly Cross and Elma. You two practically write your own resumes. So any questions before we get to the finer details?"

I raise my hand.

"Ok it goes without saying why everyone else is in on this. But why am _I_ here?"

"What, you need to ask?"

"I guess so."

"You're like the mascot of BLADE kid! One of the last found survivors of the White Whale's crash, who tragically suffered memory loss and can't remember hardly a thing apart from his name. Instead of becoming a liability, this guy becomes a part of Team Elma and took part in some of the most dangerous missions on Mira. Factor in that you would have made a damn fine Mediator what with you helping people up and down the whole city. Heck kid, it'd be harder to find someone who _isn't_ interested in your career than it would be to find someone who is."

I go silent as I consider that. To be honest I never really cared about what the majority of NLA's residents thought of me. Heck, if we're being blunt here, I rarely even think about the city as a whole. All of my effort from day one was because of the people I knew, faces I remembered. That an entire city of people I've never even seen might be actively invested in my actions is a…strange…concept for me.

Chausson starts speaking and I focus on what he's saying.

"You're free to choose your own personnel, provided that they and their commanders agree to the transfer. The Wrothians and Prone currently have many unattached warriors that would make fine candidates, we've forwarded a list to your comm devices. If you have any questions feel free to talk to us after the meeting, otherwise you have five days to submit your personnel selection. Dismissed."

There's the sound of scraping chairs as everyone moves to leave the room, except for Wolf and Corwin who walk towards Chausson and the other two.

Find a squad of my own and take part in a bunch of high profile missions…I get the feeling I'm in way over my head.

* * *

"Whose bright idea was it that I should be given command of a squad? I thing Vandham and the rest are losing their minds."

Doug, Elma and Bozé look at me weirdly.

"What makes you say that my disciple? If anyone should be confident in their own leadership qualities, it should be you."

"What in the name of Buddha's left testicle makes you say that? I'm still calling you Sensei for crying out loud, shouldn't I be exempted from leading while still a student?"

He smiles like some old sage and replies, "You only refer to me as Sensei as a sign of respect, not defining our relationship. If nothing else you have taught me far more than I taught you. I would still be misguided in my anger towards the Xenos if it weren't for your admonishments."

"On that subject are you going to be okay with this plan Sensei? I mean the whole plan is based on interacting and working together with Xenos."

"I have come a long way since we first arrived on Mira, thanks to your advice. This will be a good opportunity for me to purge the last of my unfounded anger towards our allies."

Doug laughs and intercedes with, "I wouldn't worry about you feeling animosity towards your teammates Bozé. The Wrothians are something straight out of your wildest fantasy. Heck, you'll probably get along better with them than you do with other humans."

"I haven't had the opportunity to work with any of them before. You've certainly piqued my interest friend."

"I think I can point you in the right direction then Sensei. Try to get into contact with a Wrothian called Gu Ladha. She's a killer Skell pilot but has some confidence issues when it comes to fights out of the cockpit. I think you'd be a good mentor for her."

He smiles and happily says, "You'd recommend to me a new student? Well this is most certainly an interesting turn of events."

"She's a friend, so try not to beat her up too bad."

"I make no promises."

We fall silent as we exit HQ back onto the BLADE concourse. Bozé heads towards the hangars while we walk towards the main concourse.

While Bozé's confidence in me is slightly reassuring, I'm still apprehensive about this upcoming task. Put bluntly I have no idea what I'm supposed to do as a Squad Leader. While BLADE play's it pretty fast and loose with their approach to leadership styles and responsibility, there's still a certain standard of discipline and excellence expected.

My worry must have shown on my face, because Doug suddenly clasps me on my shoulder and gives me a confident smile.

"Don't worry about it too much Cross. Vandham and Nagi know what they're doing. If they're giving you a leadership position it's because they think you can handle it."

"And while I appreciate their confidence in me, the fact of the matter is that I have practically zero experience when it comes to command."

"You really think so?"

"I'd be willing to bet I know so."

"Well that's news to me. Last I checked you had already served as a mentor to a professional BLADE, spent almost a year serving under one of NLA's best officers, and helped settle disputes even a Mediator would have trouble with. Seems strange that you consider yourself so unprepared for this."

I frown as I consider that. Now that I stop to think about it, Doug has a point. While I've done almost zilch in practical leadership, I have a pretty good theoretical knowledge of what to do. There's a big difference between theory and reality, but at least I'm a little more confident about doing this now.

Elma smiles as I relax and offers some some advice of her own.

"You'll do just fine Cross. BLADE isn't like the militaries that were back on Earth, we don't have anywhere near the same level of discipline regarding hierarchy of command. Just be yourself and lead how you think you should lead."

Dough chuckles and adds, "I can second that. Not having to be at attention all the time took a lot of getting used to. The Coalition Army would have docked my pay for a month straight if I forgot to salute my superiors."

Now thats an interesting bit of info I never knew. In BLADE saluting is more of an honest gesture of respect, an acknowledgment of someone's achievements and station. Doug makes it sound like some sort of mandatory, meaningless gesture back on Earth.

Well, the more you know. Heck, I think I've only saluted maybe three times total in my stay on Mira.

Regardless, I'm not too worried any more. What can I say? Its good to have friends.

"Thanks guys, I no longer feel like crapping myself and going AWOL."

"Yah well, happy to help if it means we can avoid that particular mess." Doug amusedly replies.

I give an inward smile as I decide to let Doug and Elma have a little alone time. Who knows? They might actually decide to do something together.

"Well since I'm full of newfound courage and vigor, I think I'll go ahead and try to put together the most amazing team ever conceived by BLADE. Catch you two later!"

I head off towards the commercial district before they even have a chance to say anything, and I have to fight from laughing as I catch a glimpse of their stunned faces at my sudden departure.

* * *

Ok so where to start? Remembering what Doug said about me mentoring a certain BLADE I contact Mia. It only takes a few seconds before she answers with her usual excitement.

"What's up Chief! You calling to request assistance from your best ever protégé?"

"Funny you should phrase it like that, I am actually. How would you feel if you were offered a spot on a soon-to-be famous squad that earns it's well deserved infamy through dangerous and likely lethal missions?"

"Whoa are you serious Chief?! I am so so in! Are you the one in charge of this hypothetical squad?"

"Yah but I'm not joking about the dangerous-"

"Holy moly…me, a part of Chief's own personal team…that is SO COOL!"

"Mia! Listen to me for a second would yah? I get that your excited, but this was an assignment given by the top brass. I'm not joking when I say we're gong to be taking on some risky assignments. You sure you're up for that?"

"Well yah. And since when have you ever had any safe assignments?"

"There was that time we got Tora's guild coin."

"Which we had to get by killing a bunch of scary Indigens and then rescuing his dad who was about to be eaten by a giant sky squid dragon thing."

"Ok you win. Welcome to…whatever this squad is eventually gonna be be called I guess."

"You don't even have a name yet?! C'mon Chief get it together! Wait, why are you forming a squad of your own again? I though you were part of Team Elma?"

We were given permission to tell our squad mates why they were being selected, so I fill her in on the details.

"Well I'm happy to be a part of this Chief! Anyone else part of this group yet?"

"Nope, you're the first."

"I'm the first member of Team Cross? Nice!"

"Please don't call it that."

"Eh? Why not?"

"Because it's friggin embarrassing that's why!"

"Aw c'mon Chief it's BLADE tradition to name squads after their leaders. You can't deny tradition!"

"Watch me. Also are you interested in scouting out some other members? That's my game plan for the rest of today."

"Heck yes I am! Oh man I should totally wear my BLADE uniform and make a killer first impression!"

I roll my eyes.

"Just go in your casual clothing, we're not hiring for some corporation. Meet me at the the Forge as soon as you can, I'll be over there."

"Ok roger that Chief! See you then!"

I hang up and give a wry smile. First member acquired.

* * *

The Forge was named so with tongue firmly in cheek.

Located in between the Administrative District and the Residential Area, The Forge is home to a sprawling series of obstacle courses and wide open areas. While initially empty space, in the recent months it was expanded to be used as a training area for future BLADEs. As I walk over I can hear the yells of DI's, the clash of training weapons and the occasional gunfire. There's around six dozen or so BLADEs currently using the area, with a smattering of Wrothians and Prone scattered throughout.

I walk toward's the most frightened and harried looking trainees being hounded by the loudest of the DI's. Upon closer inspection I realize it's Irina who's making all the racket and scaring the pants off of the recruits.

"C'mon you slackers you can move faster than that! I've seen Pre-schoolers move quicker than you sorry lot, and they didn't even have MIM's! Once more! If any of you take longer than five minutes to go around the track, guess what? You'll run it again until you get it right! NOW MOVE!"

I give an appreciative nod at Irina's performance.

"I always thought it was a toss up between Elma and Wolf who was the scarier drill instructor, but damn if you didn't have some of those guys looking like they were about cry."

She turns towards me with a satisfied grin on her face and replies, "Best praise I've gotten in a long time. What brings you to the daycare Cross?"

"Mission from HQ. Me and a few others are supposed to be creating new squads comprised of both Human's and Xenos, so I figured I'd drop by to see if anyone looks promising."

"So that's what was going on. They pulled Wolf and Bozé away from a large chunk of their DI work, so me and a few others have had to pick up the slack."

I give a nod towards the sprinting pack of trainees.

"And it certainly looks like you've taken to your work with enthusiasm."

We're interrupted as Mia runs up to us wheezing like an asthmatic Nopon.

"Sheesh Mia. If your going to be on my squad just a little run can't have you gasping for breath. Maybe you should join the rest of those guys on their run. Get your cardio going."

Still gasping for air she retorts, "Gimme some slack Chief, I practically sprinted…from the Commercial District all the way here."

"What the Hell were you in such a hurry for?"

"You said…that you were going to be picking the rest of your teammates…I didn't want to miss that."

I dryly remark, "Well I'll give you full marks for enthusiasm."

"if it's skilled Xeno teammates you're looking for, I think I can help you on that matter," Irina says, "Take a look over there."

She points to where her group of recruits are on the last leg of their sprint. Two figures are clearly in the lead by a large margin, and as they cross the line I see that it's a male Wrothian and female Cavern Clan Prone. As they finish I notice that they're barely even breathing hard. The Wrothian in particular looks like he just went on a morning jog.

Irina consults her timepiece and nods approvingly.

"Vi Leand you made it in four minutes and twenty-one seconds. Julun you landed at a time of four minutes and twenty-three seconds. It's a shame that none of your Human teammates seem to be up to your two's standards."

She acidly directs this last line in particular to the rest of the BLADEs who start arriving gasping for breath.

She shakes her head and turns back to me.

"So how about it Cross? Those two have actual combat experience, so they're really only in here as a formality. They'd probably be way more productive in your squad than spinning their wheels over here."

"I'm a-ok with that. Mind introducing me?"

"Can do. Hey Vi Leand! Julun! Get over here for a minute!"

Not the most ceremonious way of introductions, but it'll have to do. They stop short about four paces away from Irina and stand at their species equivalent of attention.

"Listen up you two. Those two over there have a _very_ unique offer, one that could get you an early ticket out of this joke of a training platoon. Listen very carefully to what they have to say."

She nods at me before turning her attention back to her recruits who are still standing in a heaving clump.

I give a good look at my potential battle buddies and try to get a good first impression reading of them before I launch into introductions.

The Wrothian Irina called Vi Leand is exactly my height, which is short for a Wrothian. His fur is also lighter than most males of his species, bordering on a dirty blond color instead of the darker red brown most Wrothians have.

The Prone called Julun is only slightly taller than me, but she has a well toned body and has a contemplative air to her. I'm still not good at telling Prone apart through only physical appearances, so hopefully I won't make an ass of myself and mistake her for someone else.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the both of them is in the way they carry themselves. They both have the same relaxed-but-not-relaxed aura of trained fighters, and they return my stare with level ones of their own.

I decide to go ahead and break the ice and open up with, "I guess introductions would be a good place to start. This one here to my left is Mia. She looks and usually acts like a dunce, but is handy in a fight, so I'd appreciate it if you go easy on her to start."

She scowls at me and growls, "That's how you introduce me to my future pals? Totally not ok Chief."

Ignoring her I continue with, "And as for me I'm the current leader of this squad. Name's Cross."

To my surprise both their eyes widen once they hear my name (Eye widening seems to be a universal sign of surprise among humanoids. This that have visible eyes anyway) and Vi Leand asks, "Just to be certain, but you did say Cross, am I correct?"

He has a light and almost musical voice which is uncharacteristic of most Wrothians, which catches me slightly off guard. Regardless I nod to his question and reply, "Yep. I hope that's not an issue or anything, did I piss off someone that I don't know about?"

They both vehemently shake their heads and Julun speaks up.

"My full name is Julun Boravo. And we meant no disrespect. I was trained by Captain Slovity, and she speaks highly of your skill and kindness. It is an honor to meet you in person."

Vi Leand also inclines his head and says, "It is the same with me. I was trained by Zo Ozuchi until his defeat in the tournament he hosted not too long ago. He spoke nothing but praise for your fighting skills."

I stand there like an idiot trying to think of something to say other than 'wow'.

Two disciples of both Zo Ozuchi and Slovity Pagus? That means these two could potentially be way, way scarier than I initially gave them credit for.

I get my act together and nod respectfully.

"If anything I should be the one praising them. They've helped Humanity out in more ways than I can count. On that note I haven't seen either of them in awhile, where are they these days?"

"Captain Slovity has been in Sylvalum the past month rescuing members of our clan. She is returning to the city soon though. She tells me the hunt has been successful."

"Can't say I'm all that surprised. So how's Zo Ozuchi holding up?"

"My master has been well, although he never tells anyone of his whereabouts, so he is prone to showing up randomly whenever he pleases. His last lesson to me was to join your BLADE organization and hone my skills here."

"Last lesson? Did you complete your training with him then?"

"After my Master's loss in the tournament he declared that he still had much training to do himself, and directed me to gain strength on my own."

"Oh…uh…I hope you're not upset that I kinda messed up your tutelage under him then."

"Of course not. If my Master decided that the most effective means to my improvement was to strike out on my own, then I will happily follow his teachings."

"That's a load off of my chest then. Anyway back to what I originally wanted to ask you two. BLADE HQ wants me and a few others to create multi-species squads that will take part in high profile missions and hopefully inspire a sense of solidarity and friendliness between our races. You two interested?"

Julun cocks her head and says, "Safe to tell us of your missions true purpose is it?"

I merely shrug and ignore Mia's chuckling.

"Well we're going to be risking our lives and everything if you decide to take part in this, so I figured I should just be up front with you about it. Not to mention that any students of Slovity or Zo Ozuchi are automatically trustworthy in my book."

They both stand a little straighter once they hear me say that. I guess they're both a lot more proud of their heritage than they let on. Well heck, I would be too.

Vi leand speaks up first and says, "I would be greatly honored to be a part of your group, Squad Leader. Serving under the man who beat my Master will surely benefit me."

Julun also agrees with, "I would be glad to serve under one that Captain Slovity considers both her friend and superior."

I hold back a frown at their words. I'd be a lot happier if they had decided to join this squad out of a desire to actually better NLA's circumstances instead of just wanting to join because of me being in charge.

I give a mental shrug. Maybe they'll have a change of heart as time goes on.

I'm about to wrap up the interview when Vi Leand suddenly speaks up with a serious look on his face.

"If I'm not being too presumptuous, may I ask for a favor from you squad leader?"

"Sure thing. And you can just call me Cross. I'm not all too fond of titles and whatnot."

He doesn't look too comfortable with my request but he carries on.

"Then, Cross. Would you have a match against me? I wish to test myself against the one who defeated my master in single combat."

"Sure, I'm down for that. But the reality is that I BARELY beat Zo Ozuchi. I had to take a gamble on my last move, and it was luck of the draw that I ended up winning."

He bows his head and replies with, "Humility is an admirable trait Squad Leader, but the fact remains that you did win, something I never would have thought possible."

Well he went back to formal titles pretty quick there. Guess he really isn't into being informal with his superiors.

"Well let's begin then. I just hope I don't end up disappointing you."

We square off as Julun and Mia both step off to the side. I hear Mia whispering conspiratorially to Julun, "Fifty credits on the Chief."

I take a moment to size up Vi Leand's combat stance. Standard Wrothian close combat form. Body coiled with knees bent to take advantage of their feline agility, with their arms poised to strike or defend. Not a bad decision when faced with someone of unknown skill.

I settle into a _Weiji-do_ stance, my preferred way of dealing with unknowns. _Weiji-do_ , or 'way of manifestation', is a form of meditative martial arts that grew out of Tai Chi. It's based on the principle of bringing forth order from primordial chaos, essentially using your mind to alter the base state of reality to bring forth change in your surroundings.

Which means a whole lot of nothing to your average _Weiji-do_ practitioner. In practical terms _Weiji-do_ is simply a useful concentration discipline that increases reaction time and allows flexibility in your movements.

In a nutshell? You imagine your body doing something, and your body will follow through.

Case in point: I hold an image of my left fist jabbing out towards his head, then allow that image to become 'real'. Exactly how I imagined it my fist shoots out towards him, but goes wide when he lightly moves his head to the side and his hand grabs my wrist. He twists it, hoping to end the fight with a disabling hold, but I counter lock and aim an open handed palm strike towards his temple with my right.

He reacts to this just as quickly as he did the punch, moving inside the strike and deflecting my blow with his upraised arm. Normally he would hold the advantage now, since he has a free shot at me with his right now that my other limb is out of position.

I was counting on this though. Mimeosomes aren't like a normal flesh and blood body, they can withstand shears of force that a normal body would buckle under, and can make use of the synthetic muscle structure to move limbs in surprising ways.

So when he moved in to block my arm, I was already in motion. Jerking my left knee so that it collides with his right and briefly topples him, I move my body right in time with his so that when he tries to regain his balance I'm already falling on top of him, bringing my entire center of mass to drive him to the ground. Making use of that arm he thought was blocked, I bring it around so that it lays against his throat.

We hit the ground hard which briefly stuns him and gives me plenty of time to thank the stars that I was in a MIM body. If I'd tried pulling that maneuver with my flesh and blood my knee wouldn't have had the momentum or weight to buckle his.

He regains his senses and notices my forearm poised above his throat. If I'd wanted to I could have crushed his throat when he hit the ground, pretty much ending the fight.

He taps my arm and I immediately get off of him, taking a moment to look at the crowd of astonished BLADE's who had all stopped their activities to watch our duel.

I guess they weren't so busy they couldn't gawk.

Getting to his feet Vi Leand bows and I spend a nervous moment wondering if I'm supposed to bow in return as well.

I'm no good at social customs.

Thankfully he doesn't seem to be expecting one and instead says, "That was an instructive fight Squad Leader, I offer my thanks to you for indulging me."

"Don't mention it, but I got to say, those are some amazing reflexes you have there. I'm pretty damn excited to have you on my team."

"Your words honor me."

Turning towards Julun and Mia, who are still off to the side, I address them in my best guess at an inspiring tone.

"Alright then. Julun Baravo, Vi Leand. Welcome to the team. I'm just going to once again state that this is a totally optional decision here, you aren't required to take on this responsibility if you don't want to or don't think you're up for it. Also I have no idea what the Hell I'm doing when it comes to actually running a squad, so things will likely be pretty informal and haphazard."

Probably not the slickest sales pitch ever invented, but I get the impression anything I say at this point won't scare them away. At least I hope not.

"I'll take care of your transfer out of Irina's group into mine, so don't worry about any of that stuff, and just focus on getting set for a mission as early as tomorrow. The sooner we start working as a team the better. So uh, that'll be all. Dismissed! Or however that goes."

I see Mia trying and failing to smother a laugh at my pathetic attempt at sounding professional and give an inner sigh. I don't think emulating Elma or Irina's style of leadership is going to work for me.

Like at all.

They seem to accept this without comment though and salute professionally before leaving. I give an audible sigh this time and turn towards Mia, who's still giggling like a demented Nopon.

"Yah yah, laugh it up. Shouldn't you be a bit more respectful of your superior?"

"But Chief…It's hard to take you seriously…when you try to act like your in charge!"

I head towards Irina, who's giving Hell to all the BLADE's who stopped to watch our match, in order to get my new team members transfer taken care of.

But mostly just to escape Mia's heckling.

* * *

About an hour later Mia and I are walking through the commercial district to grab a bite to eat when I spot a giant silhouette heading down the street.

"Hey Rock! You on break or done for the day?"

His head cranes towards me and I notice his usual passengers of Nopon and Ma-Non riding on his back. He gives a toothy grin and walks up next to us.

"Hey Cross, Mia. How are you two doing? And work finished up early today so I'm just sightseeing around the city right now."

"I'm surprised Celica isn't hanging out with you. You guys rarely have any free time together now. Or is she still on her mission outside NLA?"

He looks uncomfortable and shifty when I ask this and I immediately feel a slight sinking sensation in my stomach.

"Rock? What happened?"

"Oh uh, nothing serious. She's back in the city and she's not hurt or anything, but it sounded like the mission she was on went pretty badly."

I give an inward sigh of relief that she's not hurt and then refocus on Rock.

"So if she's not hurt then why isn't she spending time with you? Is the mission time sensitive or something?"

"I don't know the details too well, but it sounded like some of her teammates got hurt and, well…you know how she gets when things like that happen."

I frown at that. Similar to Hope, Celica tends to feel overly responsible for mistakes that might not even be hers, which isn't always that bad of a thing. But when events beyond her control cause damage, she'll still feel like she's at fault.

That I don't consider healthy.

Mia speaks up and says, "Hey Chief, can't we do something to help? Celia's my friend too y'know."

I frown at her words and think about it.

"I want to help out too Mia but we're right in the middle of HQ's assignment, not to mention we just picked up two new team members…"

I trail off as I get an idea that'll let us kill two Jacul's with one stone. Smiling I turn back to Rock and ask, "Hey Rock, I've got an idea on how to cheer Celica up, you want to come with us?"

"Thanks, but I still have to drop off these guys before I go anywhere." he says pointing to the others on his back.

"Besides she'll be super happy to know your helping out, I'll catch up with her later."

"And I think that'll be my cue to be on my merry way! Good luck Chief! Send me a message later when you have everything all figured out! Hey Rock mind giving me a ride?"

I yank my head around as Mia jumps onto Rocks back and settles in.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

"Huh? Well obviously I'm going to let you make an executive call as Squad Leader without the worry of having your subordinates influence your decision."

"I have a sneaking suspicion that's a load of crap."

"Sorry Chief can't hear you! Let's go Rock!"

"See you later Cross! Celica should be at Deliverance Park, thats usually where she goes when she's upset. Good luck buddy!"

I stand there and guess this is karma for when I ditched Elma and Doug earlier.

* * *

Half an hour later I'm walking across the southern part of Deliverance Park towards where Celica and Rock usually hang out in their free time. They like this spot since it has a great view of both the new Residential Section and the Ma-non's ship, as well as a nice sloped area for Rock to recline on.

Sure enough I see her sitting beneath one of the transplanted oak trees scrolling through her comm device with a depressed look on her face. I frown as I notice that her hair, usually shoulder length and falling over the right side of her face, is shorter than usual and pulled back fully revealing both her eyes.

I walk up beside her and sit down heavily.

"I think this might be the first time I've seen your right eye completely unobstructed. It's a good look."

She jumps and looks at me with a startled look on her face and exclaims, "Cross! You almost gave me a heart attack, don't go sneaking around like that!"

"I wasn't sneaking. As a matter of fact I was being louder than normal since I wanted to avoid scaring the daylights out of you."

"Scaring the daylights?"

I Shrug.

"Another one of Earth's idioms I picked up. Beats me where it came from though, I'm no expert."

She winces and says, "Forgive me, I didn't intend to make fun of your missing memories of Earth."

I can't help but laugh at that. That's Celica alright, worrying over everybody's feelings but her own.

"C'mon Celica I'm not gonna be upset about that. If I got mopey every time someone made a reference to Earth I didn't get I'd be the most depressed person in the city. Heck, I came here hoping to cheer you up, not make you even more morose."

She gives a small smile at that, which is a big relief for me.

"Well if your willing to listen, I do have a problem I could use your advice on. Allow me a minute to finish my report then we'll talk."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

She goes back to her device and I lay down on the grass, using this moment of peace to take a closer look at her.

It often strikes me how similar all the Xenos we've encountered are to Humans. Well maybe similar is the wrong word, since we all have our own cultures, values, anatomy etc. But all of us seem to share a few common traits. We're all roughly Bipedal organisms with outwardly obvious sexual differentiation (provided said species has different sexes) and use sound as a form of communication. We even have similar genetic makeups at a basic level, hence why so many Xeno's can and will gorge themselves on Earth food without getting violently sick(binge eating doesn't count).

Of all these similarities though, Qlurians are bizarrely close to humans in almost all respects. Aside from their ears, which seem to be a cross between a Cat's and a Wolf's, they're anatomically identical to humans.

Heck, Celica's even told me about how some our terrestrial creatures like Cat's are pretty damn similar to her species's versions.

It's a big Galaxy out there, so it's not all that weird that organisms nearly identical to Human's exists, but running into each other on the same planet at the same time seems to be quite the bizarre coincidence of timing.

I digress. Perhaps the point I'm trying to make is that of all the Xeno's in NLA, Qlurian's would be the easiest to associate with Earth standards of beauty.

And Celica is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. Beautiful enough that I count myself lucky that she even bothers to talk with me. She's gotten quite used to Earth fashion as well, as today she's dressed in a knee length skirt and hoodie likely straight from the newest stocks of NLA's retailers.

Quite a bit different from the fashion retard that I am. I'd sooner die than tell anyone this, but it was Elma and Lin who mostly advised me on what to wear when I first came to NLA, since I had no clue what clothing was supposed to go with what. I'm pretty sure Lin is saving that particular bit of info for when she needs a favor from me.

Celica finishes up whatever she was doing on her comm and looks back towards me.

"Sorry for making you wait Cross, are you still willing to listen?"

"Don't be such a stranger, course I am."

She gives a wry smile at my comment.

"You remember when I told you about the mission in Noctilum, correct?"

"Yah, you said it should only be about five days or so right? Things went badly I assume?"

She wordlessly nods.

"It was a simple Prospector mission. A clothing business in NLA needed an extra supply of materials for a special event they're hoping to host farther down the road, so they posted a request for Harnenga Cotton. I have a team I usually join up with when a job is a bit too big for one person, and we set out to complete it…we made a very crucial yet simple mistake. We relied too heavily of FrontierNav."

I think I see where this is going.

"Let me guess. Something that didn't show up on FrontierNav ambushed you?"

"Indeed. We didn't detect a nest of Scirpos since they were dormant until they woke up and surrounded us. We still made sure to leave an escape route open but…thankfully no one was killed but there were a number injuries, and several of them are in the MIM repair center now."

She touches the end of her hair, which now that I look closer at it has been cut as if there was burn damage at the ends. Almost as if acid had narrowly missed her head. She bitterly says, "I wasn't of much help either."

She gives a heavy sigh as she finishes.

"Commander Vandham was less than pleased at the news, and he made that clear. Loudly."

I give a nod of understanding. I can actually sympathize with both parties on this one. On the one hand Celica and her team made a rookie mistake, but it's an easy one to make. The past few months FrontierNav has been expanded so thoroughly that getting reliable data has become much easier. If Kirsty and Elma hadn't spent my first few weeks as a BLADE beating into my head that FrontierNav is a guideline rather than gospel, I probably would have made the same mistake at some point in my career.

"Well he was right to do so, and obviously this is something you want to keep in mind for the future…but the other guys on your team should have known about this, since it _is_ our tech and all. And no one died, so just take this as a learning opportunity rather than an utter failure."

She gives a shy smile at my words.

"Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it Cross."

"Any time. Besides, I have an offer for you that'll help both of us."

"Oh? You certainly have my interest." She says slyly.

"I just started forming my own squad today and I'm looking for a mission that'll help us get used to working together, if you're on board with it we can help you finish your assignment. Kill two Jaculs with one stone and everything."

She narrows her eyes at me suspiciously, which is totally not the reaction I was expecting.

"You started forming your own squad? You never seemed very enthusiastic about such a thing before. What caused this change of heart?"

"Order's from HQ. They're looking to create squads of Human and Xeno members that'll take part in big name assignments, hopefully making everyone a bit more comfortable with each other."

"I see."

She stays silent for a few seconds seemingly thinking about something before staring me square in the eye.

"Cross, if your amicable to the idea, would you allow me to join as part of your squad?"

I try to think of something more intelligent to say than, 'huh?' and don't quite make it.

"Huh?"

"Exactly what I said. I fit all the criteria, and I am willing to take on the risk associated with being part of such a group."

"Why the heck would you want to join? We're going to be taking on-"

I snap my jaw shut before I say, 'missions too dangerous for you'.

She seems to clue in though and scowls at me.

"You were about to say something along the line of, 'too dangerous', were't you?"

I sigh and reply, "Sorry, that was a reflex. What I'm trying to say is that while I'm really happy you want to join, I just want you to be aware that some of the stuff we'll be taking part of is likely gonna be nasty."

Which is the truth really. While I really don't feel comfortable accepting Celica onto my squad, that's mostly a misplaced desire to keep her safe. You'd never guess it simply by looking at her, but Celica has the skills of a veteran BLADE. Spending quite a bit of her last two years on the run from the Ganglion in the wilds of Mira has given her hands on survival experience few other Humans can match. She would be a massive help to my group and I know it.

My words stop her for a moment before she reaches out and places her hand on top of my own.

"I understand why you want me to think about this carefully Cross, and I truly am happy that you feel that way. But I'd be far more at ease if I was at your side than simply hoping that you stay safe." She grins and happily adds, "You have a rather bad habit of putting others ahead of yourself."

I chuckle at that and give her hand an answering squeeze.

"Like you're one to talk about being too selfless."

I meet her eyes and the moment stretches…before I chicken out and abruptly stand up. I clear my throat and look at her and notice that she seems a little flustered herself.

"So uh…welcome to the team then. I'm getting a schedule worked out for tomorrow, I'll let everyone know tonight what the plan is. That work out for you all right?"

"Oh, um. Yes. Certainly."

She abruptly stands as well and says, "Then I'll plan to see you tomorrow Cross. Thank you again for accepting me into your squad. Take care."

She gives a nervous sort of smile before walking off in a hurry.

I just stand there and try to sort through what the Hell just happened.

While I'll be the first to admit that I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to social interplay and all it's nuances, I feel safe in assuming that was a _bit_ more than just a friendly exchange.

I give my head a shake and refocus. My difficulty with romance and it's labyrinthine nuances can wait until our mission is over. Getting my squad to run smoothly is more important.

That's what I keep trying to convince myself anyway.

* * *

About fifty yards away Mia was covertly watching Cross along with Lin and Alexa. After realizing that Cross would be alone with Celica, and would be trying to cheer her up, she had immediately messaged Lin with the details. Lin had been working with Alexa in the Outfitters Hangars and had dragged her along for their spying-er…reconnaissance operation.

Which was all well and good, except now Lin looked like she was ready to rip someone's head off and kick it down the street.

"What is _wrong_ with that guy?!" She exclaims half hysterically. "She was totally into him, going so far as to grab his hand and everything, they even locked eyes for a awhile there! Is he retarded? He _has_ to be!"

Alexa seems a bit amused by Lin's outburst but tries to console her anyway.

"I know what you mean Lin. I thought Camber and Mica were awkward to watch flirt but, well…that was…special in a dumb sort of way. But hey. Remember to go easy on the guy, if I understand his memory issues right this is a first for him."

"Yah I know," Lin sighs heavily, "But that doesn't make it any easier to watch them just passively flirt. They're constantly laying their lives on the line out there, it'd be nice if they would just get over themselves and start going out already."

She fixes her gaze on me next.

"Mia, you're part of the idiots squad. You better make sure that numbskull gets his act together and makes a move already."

"Wait, me? While it's cool that you think I'm a matchmaker and all, that is so way out of my expertise Lin."

"You've had boyfriends before right? C'mon use some of that prior experience and get those two together already."

"Just because I've dated someone before doesn't make me some sort of magical Casanova Lin. Besides, those two have 'puppy love'. THAT is something I have no idea how to handle."

"Big use you are." She grumbles.

"Besides, isn't it the job of the younger sibling to mess around with the older siblings love life?"

"I've been trying, but he always just makes fun of me or answers sarcastically!"

Alexa finally gets bored enough to interrupt with an impatient look on her face.

"While I'm stoked that you two are having a fun ol' conversation here, this little trip is cutting into my lunch break. Can we start heading back now?"

Lin sighs dejectedly.

"Yah let's go. Man what a letdown."

Alexa grins and claps Lin on the shoulder.

"Don't be so down kiddo, we have a surprise for your dumb old brother now don't we?"

Lin's eyes light up and she exclaims, "Oh man I almost forgot! C'mon let's hurry back and call him, he's gonna be super happy about this!"

I can't help but grin at their obsession when it comes to engineering stuff. I can totally understand though, since I used to be a mechanic and all.

Lin waves at me as they run off towards the Hangars and yells, "Catch you later Mia! Remember what you're job is!"

I roll my eyes and wave back before heading towards the barracks. If I know the Chief like I think I know the Chief, he has an interesting team bonding exercise in the works.

* * *

"I appreciate the call and everything, but I'm sort of busy right now Lin."

"Not busy enough for this. Stop by the A.D. Hangar on the pronto Cross, there's a little present waiting for you."

I get a frown on my face at her words. I think I like where this is going.

"When you say stop by the hangar, is it because…"

"I ain't saying until you're over here."

I haul my ass over to the Hangars in record time and see Alexa and Lin standing off to the side with identical grins on their faces.

"So whats the big rush? I had to cut short my lunch and frantic planning session for this-"

I stop as I look to the side and see a beautiful sight. My completely repaired Lailah in all her wonderful, lethal glory.

Well not completely the same, I notice a few differences in the current model compared to my old one. The head has two longer spoiler like flaps attached to it that look like they're packed with sensor equipment, while the leg and arm sections have additional armor attached to them. I gotta admit, I like the change.

I grin like a madman and pick up Lin in a bearhug.

"This is awesome! Leave it to the little genius engineer to finish things ahead of schedule!"

Alexa looks at me with an annoyed look on her face.

"Ya know I DID kinda have a hand in fixing her up as well. Where's my fervent thanks?"

I set Lin down as she looks like she's about to pass out and give Alexa a knowing grin.

"I figured working on the Skell itself was it's own reward."

"Hey I enjoy praise just like any other human being."

I grab her hand a shake it vigorously, saying "In that case your the best Alexa. Walk me through the changes here guys, you've got my interest running full throttle here."

Lin gives me a reproachful look and scolds, "You need to ease up on those hugs of yours Cross, I think someone slipped your MIM a few extra muscle strands or something. Anyway we've got quite a few improvements to go over here. Alexa, take it away."

"Well there's not too much to tell really, despite what Lin says. The unabbreviated list of changes is mostly technical, not practical. Long story short all that extra armor isn't going to add any extraneous weight to your Skell. In between the Ganglion tech we've recovered, Ma-non and Wrothian material refinement techniques as well as good ol' human know-how we have some pretty cool new armor composites to work with."

"Coming up with stuff must be pretty interesting when you have three different cheat sheets to work with."

"You know it. This plating is the real deal. It's got better heat diffusion properties, only weighs 3/4's of what our old stuff used to and is roughly twice as tough. If you want to punch through that armor in one shot you're gonna have to use Skell class heavy weaponry, small arms fire ain't gonna cut it any more. Also it has better joint protection since we can pack on the extra plates."

"I notice the head has a little extra added to it. Is that cosmetic?"

Lin gives a smug smile and says, "As if! That's an extra sensor suite package in there. You'll have better passive and thermal imaging, about three times the radar detection range as well as added protection against any electronic override attacks. We got that particular design from the Orpheans."

I haven't stopped smiling for the past few minutes, and I don't think I'm stopping anytime soon.

"I think I'm in love all over again. Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought repairs weren't supposed to be done here for another couple days."

"They weren't, but Vandham dropped by a couple days ago and gave us a list of names that would be given priority for repairs, upgrades, etc. Your name was on there, so we went right to work."

I give a shake of my head. I have no idea how Vandham and the rest manage to juggle what to me seems like a million different things at once, but manage they do.

Lin pats the leg of my Skell and says, "So do you want the usual load-out on her? Or do you have something else in mind?"

"Ditch most of the weapons and swap it out for a non-aggressive package. Also attach a passenger pod to the back slots, I'll have company along for the ride."

Alexa gives a disappointed sigh.

"Her maiden voyage and it's just as a tour bus. That's so not cool."

I ignore her and immediately revise my plan for tomorrow.

We're going to Noctilum in _style._

* * *

I take a deep breath and try to calm my nerves. You'd think facing down death on an almost routine basis would make me super relaxed when it comes to the simple things in life, like meeting new people or trying to organize missions between teammates. But nope, I still get as nervy about this stuff as I did when I first arrived in NLA.

My second day of being Team Leader and I already want to quit.

I see Vi Leand approaching and desperately try to act cool and composed. He walks up to me and salutes, which I forgot is something most Xeno's do to their superior officer. Christ, I really don't like it. It makes me feel like some sort of hardass drill sergeant.

Pulling myself together I decide to respond with a nod and a friendly greeting.

"Morning Vi Leand. You feeling up to today's mission?"

He gives a confident nod without a moments hesitation.

"Yes Lieutenant. I'm looking forward to learning from you perform on this and all future missions."

I frown.

"Lieutenant? I thought I was Squad Leader."

He looks surprised and quickly says, "My apologies if I offended you with that title. If you prefer I can refer to you as Squad Leader instead of lieutenant."

"Well if we're talking about what I prefer I would definitely just like to be called by my name. Wait, never mind that, where did you hear me being called a lieutenant?"

"Ladies and Gentleman, our great leader in his natural environment."

I turn around and see Mia with a smug look on her face followed by Celica and Julun.

Continuing on she explains, "Cross, you were promoted yesterday. Don't tell me you didn't get a notice or anything."

My eyes widen as I remember getting a message that had something written about becoming a BLADE officer on it…I had immediately trashed it because I though it was spam.

Whoops.

Celica seems to clue in on my shock and says, "You didn't notice it did you?"

"Well I did but…it had this long serial number in front of it so I just assumed it was some sort of automated message that didn't mean anything."

Both Mia and Celica roll their eyes.

"Hey c'mon it's not totally my fault. I was in a meeting with Vandham and Nagi just yesterday, if it was such a big deal they could have just told me then."

"Probably because they figured you would have the smarts not to just trash HQ messages Chief. But hey, everyone get's a case of the dirt brain once in awhile."

"I don't know what dirt brain specifically entails, and I don't want to find out. Let's move on shall we?"

"Whatever you say Chief."

I grumble under my breath. Off to a stellar start aren't we?

I turn my attention to Vi Leand and Julun who are staring at me with obviously uncomfortable looks on their faces.

"Don't worry about her, she'll be court martialed once we get back. I can do that now that I'm an officer you know."

"And thus we witness the death of a true hero, and the birth of a dictator…"

I hear a muffled snort that was probably Celica failing to hold in a chuckle at Mia's commentary.

Ignoring them I address everyone at once.

"Alright guys here's the rundown. It's a simple collection mission with a small twist to it. Some Scirpos have taken up residence around the collection point, so we're going to have to sneak around em' to get to our objective. Or we can, y'know, go in guns blazing and all. We'll play it by ear and come up with a plan once we get to the site. Any questions?"

Julun raises her hand.

"I have not had much experience fighting these particular indigens. While I would desire nothing more than to fight alongside all of you, I might be burden during combat."

Vi leand speaks up as well, adding "My experience with these creatures is also limited, I should mention."

I nod and smile. I'm glad these two aren't too proud to admit their own shortcomings if it comes to it.

"Not a problem, the main point of this mission is mostly just to get a feel how each of us fight and hash out some basic teamwork. Our deadline for team formation isn't for another couple of days anyway. Anything else?"

Everyone stays silent.

"Alright, then let's move out."

* * *

Twenty minutes later we're in the hangar and all set to go. I can't help but grin as I climb into my Skells cockpit and enter my BLADE I.D. into the startup console. With a small shudder the reactor kicks on and my displays come alive in a flurry of startup info. Fuels topped off, all equipment is loaded and all sensor feeds are working just fine.

I click on the intercom and check in on the rest of my team.

"How you guys holding up back there? Everyone all set?"

Mia comes back with an affirmative, saying "We're all settled back here Chief, ready to go whenever you are. Just try not to doing anything that'll make us spill our drinks back here."

"No promises, I haven't gotten to take this baby out for a spin in _weeks._ "

Where the usual back weapon's would be is a modified Ma-non storage pod that can hold up to eight passengers. Once it had been proven that Skell flight packs wouldn't spontaneously combust upon activation, NLA engineers had started working on a way to allow Skells to carry additional passengers, should the need arise.

The Ma-non had dozens of empty storage containers lying around their ship, and were happy to give most of them over to BLADE at the expense of some of Earth's more savory culinary masterpieces. Their containers have an artificial-gravity emitter loaded into each one that keeps the cargo stable even under the harshest of interstellar maneuvers. I would have to pull off some seriously violent twists and turns if I want to even so much as nudge the innards of the pods.

That gravity emitter also provides a stable 'up' and 'down'. Suddenly flip the pod on it's head and the only change it's passengers will note is a change in scenery. Easily the best deal Human's have cut on this planet yet.

The important part is that now I don't have to hold back on going wild during the drive to Noctilum. I switch over to West Gate control and log our departure before heading towards the exit. The gates are rarely closed anymore in NLA, since there's enough traffic and not enough threats to go through the hassle of closing then opening a who-knows-how-many metric tons of reinforced gate. Most predatory Indigens learned the hard way that getting too close to the gate with a bad attitude is rewarded with of burst of heavy weapons fire, while non-aggressive Indigens don't find the burnished alloys of NLA's walls to be particularly palatable. I give a wave towards the other Skells on guard duty before breaking into a jog towards The Grieving Plains.

The intercom crackles and Mia's voice reverberates through the cockpit.

"How come you're not soaring through the skies yet Chief? I thought you were all excited to be back in the saddle again."

"We have some spare time on our hands, we'll be driving until we reach the coastal line, then start flying. In the meantime let's take a moment to talk a little bit, get to know each other…but first…"

I grin uncontrollably as I push down and up on the pedals, giving the Skell the command to jump while I hit the transformation switch on my right control panel. Mid-air transformations can be a bit tricky even with the auto-balancer making sure you don't land upside down. Most rookie Skell pilots either don't leave enough ground clearance before switching modes or transform too high in the air and spend a few awkward seconds hanging in the sky or smashing into the ground in a tangle of half-transformed limbs. Mine was perfect, landing exactly as I finished the switch. I jam on the accelerator and send the Skell headed straight for a small rise, clearing it and sailing over a startled herd of Ovis who bleat in momentary panic.

There's a mix of excited and startled yelps from everyone in the Pod and I laugh as I land in a skid that perfectly slews us in and out of a copse of Miran tree's.

Man I really, _really_ missed my Skell.

* * *

Bryce Patterson yawned as he headed out for his shift on watch at Sylvalum's South Hardheart BLADE listening outpost. While the Ganglion had been pushed out of Hilal stronghold entirely, along with large chunks of the Delusions Mountain area, they still had a strong grip on their Anvil Rock One base, as well as the main path that led to Cauldros. HQ had decided to consolidate their position instead of trying to advance further and risk aggravating the Ganglion, relying on a few listening posts like their's to provide advance warning of any potential Ganglion attacks or movements. It was a fairly boring job when nothing was happening, but that suited Bryce fine.

Adventure was overrated. He was perfectly content with observing, and watching the alien landscape of Mira go about it's business. Things has gotten dicey a few days back when Ganglion activity had sudden spiked, with Skells of all classes and even a few Xerns going back and forth between the base and other locations, but by yesterday the vast majority had departed, and had given no sign of noticing their little outpost.

Grabbing his rifle and heading towards their primary observation point he waved at Emily who was busy sending yesterdays report to NLA. She gave a distracted wave in return, obviously focused on her work. There were six of them at this particular outpost, four on duty while two rest in rotating shifts.

He continued walking for about five minutes before arriving at their camouflaged point. Covered with an electronic camo tent that acted as both a Faraday cage and visual masking cover, it was hard to spot even when you knew where to look. He knocked on the top of the net before speaking up with, "Shift's over Kevin, time for you to clock out and grab some sack time."

Instead of the calm and relaxed tone the older man usually answered with, only silence met Bryce. He frowned. Had Kevin fallen asleep? Not bloody likely. The guy was a stickler for discipline, he'd sooner cut off his own ears than fall asleep at the job.

He peeled back the tent flap and stared in shock for almost a full second at Kevin's beheaded body. Snapping out of his surprise Bryce immediately brought his rifle to his shoulder and started scanning his surroundings, his breathing going in short and quick. That clean cut wasn't the style of Indigens. That was Ganglion work.

He grabbed is radio and frantically spoke into it.

"Emily, David, keep your eyes peeled, Ganglion soldiers are likely converging in our position. No jokes, Kevin's already down, respond."

Only silence greeted him.

Cursing under his breath he turned and sprinted back towards the base, praying that it was merely jamming that was preventing any sort of response, and not that no one was left to respond.

A minute later he arrived at the periphery of their camp and slowly scanned the area, trying to pick out any signs of Ganglion.

Nothing.

He frowned at the unnatural quiet. He began slowly advancing, always trying to keep some solid object at his back he moved towards the communication table, hopefully to get a distress call to NLA.

Making it unmolested he noticed that Emily was slumped over the table. He took one last look around and then moved quickly to her side. He winced as he noticed she had also been decapitated much like Kevin.

At least there was one silver lining to this whole mess though, the communications relay was still working. Breathing a sigh of relief he moved to send a distress signal.

And then stopped.

Ganglion soldiers had clearly already killed everyone here, but the obvious communications equipment was still entirely intact. Either they were overconfident in their abilities…or this was bait.

His eyes widened and he threw himself sideways just as the air hissed where his head had been a split second ago. Coming to his knees with the rifle raised, he took stock of his opponent. A tall humanoid figure wearing some kind of cloak with several melee weapons on their person. A Ganglion Milsaadi assassin.

Not wanting to give it a chance to pull any other crazy maneuvers he sighted on it's center of mass and moved to pull the trigger.

Or at least he tried to, since all of the sudden his body didn't want to listen to his commands. Even more bizarre was that his field of view started to tilt backwards, until it did a full 360 and he suddenly found himself experiencing a strange image of the world crazily rotating around him.

There was a sense of impact that seemed to come from far away and Bryce couldn't help but wonder with a sense of growing panic what exactly was going on.

A body crumpled to the ground next to him and the peculiar thing about this was that said body seemed to look a lot like his.

Exactly like his.

Distantly he heard one of the Milsaadi say, "Base is secured, squadrons can begin moving out.", and opened his mouth to ask what the Hell they were planning. No words came out however, only a gasp of escaping air.

One of the Milsaadi turned to stare down at him and said with a tone of mild surprise, "This one yet lives."

"Allow me to remedy that." the other one replied as it walked over, raised it's foot and brought it down on Bryce's face.


	4. Chapter 4: Opening Moves

Chapter 4: Opening Moves

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."

― **Bob Marley**

" _Layla, Darling won't you ease my troubled mind."_

"You realize the name is spelled a little differently in the song, right Chief?"

"Now don't you go trying to spoil this for me. I owe Mr. Clapton a lot for making such a perfect song to listen to on long journeys. It's almost as if he knew."

"You sure have some eccentric tastes, going for music released more than half a century ago."

"You say eccentric, I say refined. What about you guys? I haven't heard much in the way of your cultures music, what do you usually listen to?"

Julun speaks up with an excited tone to her voice. I guess she's into this sort of thing.

"Cavern Clan typically use hides of defeated beasts to create drums of different strength and tone. Largest drums could be three times the size of largest male Prone, and one beat would echo throughout our homes for kilometers on end. We would also chant along with drums, creating what your people call a symphony of hands and throats."

"Sound's wild, and pretty damn impressive. Makes me think of a Gregorian Chant or something. Have any of your people created these instruments in the city yet? There's no shortage of materials and stuff here."

"While there are abundant resources to use, only certain Prone have knowledge of how to create these instruments. While one could likely be created easily using a machine, we have tradition of creating them by hand only. To my knowledge no such Prone have arrived in city yet."

"Damn, I was hoping to hear some of your cultures stuff. Well I'll keep my fingers crossed. Celica, how about Qlurians? What sort of things do your people dabble with?"

"We didn't have anything as specialized as Julun's, it many regards it was more like Human culture, where anyone was free to learn whatever they wished."

Mia perks up at that.

"So if I wanted to learn how to play the Qlurian guitar or whatever, I could?"

"Certainly, there were even large schools across my planet where we could learn how to play. I was quite skilled with a _Coonteal_ myself."

"A _Coonteal_?"

"I suppose the closest instrument you have to it would be a flute, although ours were made of two stacked tubes, not a single long one."

"So it takes after a Pan Flute then."

"A Pan Flute?"

"An ancient Earth instrument that was big in some South American cultures. Two rows of different length pipes, pretty fun instrument to listen to."

"How the heck do you know that bit of info Chief?"

"There were some old tourism videos in one of the recovered Whale data pods. There was one on the Seven Wonder's of the World. Machu Picchu and the South American culture caught my eye the most."

Celica sounds the most excited she has in a while as she asks, "Do you know if there any of these Pan Flutes in NLA?"

"Dunno. Tell you what, if I find one, you can thank me by letting me hear some of the Qlurian's best."

"It's a deal."

Vi speaks up with, "You seem to have an interest in many forms of music Lieutenant."

I gave up trying to get him to call me Cross, but he was fine with us calling him Vi after Mia complained that it was too hard to call his full name all the time.

"You bet I do. I absolutely love how you can create a seemingly infinite variety of sounds in any number of wild combinations. It's a never ending source of entertainment. And music seems to be a common ground that most of our species can come together on no matter what our differences. But enough about me. What kind of instruments and such do the Wrothians use? Just like with Julun I have zero clue what kind of tunes you guys listen to."

Vi goes silent for a second before slowly speaking.

"On Wroth we had a tradition similar to Julun's. Only certain members of our kind we're given the responsibility of learning music. It was a highly regarded and respected task, and we referred to such individuals as the 'wind-speakers'. They would travel with warriors about to fight, or entertain our kingdoms with melodies that could make our greatest fighters weep."

His next words sound wistful.

"I only had two opportunities to listen to a wind-speaker, both times when I was but a cub. The instrument was an edge-reed, something similar to your specie's bagpipes…I can still recall the music with perfect clarity…"

I hesitate to ask my next question, but Celica beats me to it and gently asks, "You talk of these Wind-speakers in the past tense. Do they no longer exist?"

Vi is quiet for a moment before answering.

"If they do, they are in very few numbers hiding on Wroth. Along with the Hundred Hellions, the Wind-speakers were regarded as symbols for our race, and the Ganglion were sure to make an example of them. Much like the Hellions, Wind-speakers were often families, passing down their traditions from parent to child. I fear that the damage done might be irreversible with so many family lines culled."

I have a bitter taste in my mouth after hearing this bit of history. It's painfully reminiscent of Gi Zang's own history with the Ganglion takeover of Wroth. But there's still some silver linings to that whole disaster.

"Maybe this is overly optimistic of me Vi, but those traditions might not be as gone for good as you think. A survivor of the Hundred Hellions called Gi Zang is on Mira preparing to start a new generation of Hellion warriors, I don't think it's impossible that the Wind-speakers might revive themselves given time as well."

Surprise is in his voice as he says, "I had heard heard rumors of this warrior, but how do you know with certainty about his whereabouts?"

"Mostly because he nearly beat the crap out of me on several occasions. Also because I was right alongside him when he decided to revitalize the Hellions. He's a heck of a guy, I consider myself lucky to be his friend. Less lucky to be his favorite sparring buddy, but let that go."

He's quiet for a few seconds before he speaks up again. I can practically hear the smile in his voice.

"Not only am I in the accompaniment of a warrior who beat my master, but also is comrades with the last surviving Hellion…what in Wroth's name have I gotten myself into?"

"Aw c'mon man you're going to make me blush."

"Blush? Is that an expression of pride?"

"Embarrassment really. Our cheeks or ears will turn red. Works better on us since we don't have a full face of hair. Do Wrothians have a similar expression?"

"Indeed. Out ears will flatten on our head while our tails will wrap around our legs. It's quite telegraphed really."

I nod to myself and file that bit of info away for later. I take a look at the map display and see we're about a minute out from the East Coat of Primordia. Time to take to the skies.

"Hope you guys had a good look at Primordia, because we're leaving it behind for the ocean blue. Liftoff in t-minus now!"

I hear a startled curse from Mia as I send my Lailah into a drift off of the edge of the coastal cliff and we enter free-fall. I wait just until we're about to hit the water before transforming and igniting the engines. A grin I have no control over crawls onto my face as I accelerate barely a meter above the waves before ascending in a steep climb towards the clouds above.

I LOVE flying.

"Maybe next time you should wait a little longer Cross. Then we could just swim to Noctilum."

I chuckle at Celica's complaint, already easing back on the throttle once we reach cruising altitude.

"Incredible fall that was. May we attempt it again on our return to city?"

"If you had fun with that you would have loved Earth amusement parks Julun. I guess someone will have to eventually build one here on Mira."

Mia does't sound so enthusiastic.

"No thanks, Roller coasters are not my cup of tea."

Vi just snorts with amusement. I smile at our little interaction. looks like the team bonding exercise is going just fine.

* * *

Calling Noctilum similar to the jungles back on Earth wouldn't be a completely incorrect statement, but neither would it do justice to the sheer majesty of this place. For starters Earth jungles had massive trees and other flora that can stretch up to dozens of meters in the air. Miran flora can occasionally reach up to hundreds, if not _thousands_ of meters. Some of the native trees can grow so tall and thick that you can actually travel by Skell across their branches for kilometers on end, naturally grown highways in the sky.

That's not even accounting for all the waterfalls, lakes and canyons that meander through the continent. What's strange about Noctilum is while it can be quite humid near the water sources, the overall temperature isn't too dissimilar to Primordia's. The chill factor can actually become pretty significant when fog comes rolling in from the coast and blankets the area. If it wasn't for all the nasty Indigens that just love to ambush you from all sorts of hidden lairs I would go ahead and label Noctilum the most awesome place on all of Mira.

Seriously, suddenly having a nest of Scirpos drop down on your head is about as fun as wrestling a crazed Dilus. Which come to think of it you might also end up doing. The more you know.

* * *

Six hours later we're slowly advancing on our target area, making sure nothing jumps us and ruins our day. We dropped off my Skell at the newly established Qing Long Glade B.C. and started making our way to Everwhelm Falls where Harnenga Cotton grows the thickest. Harnenga is a bit different from it's contemporary Earth cousin. It's way more thick and insulated than the standard Earth variety, and a singe stalk of it can yield quite a bit of the cotton. Which is good for us, since we can grab a duffel or two if it and call it mission accomplished, instead of having to drag a whole truckload of it with us.

The only catch to Harnenga is that it withers quite quickly in arid conditions, hence why it mostly grows only near sources of water. The duffels have us covered there, thankfully. They have a line of misters on the inside that'll keep things humid for a few days until we can make the delivery. Not the most sophisticated setup, but it does the job.

I take the relative peacefulness of our trek to watch how each of my squadmates is handling the journey.

Mia I'm already familiar with, having worked with her several times recently. It's hard for someone packing a heavy raygun to be sneaky, so she typically stays in the middle of the group and keeps an eye out for anything the point man might have missed.

Celica I haven't worked with in awhile and it always catches me off guard how quickly she's adapted to this lifestyle. She invested in one of the new Reginal Bodysuits from Sakuraba that can mimic the surrounding environment (similar to my armor) and is currently acting as the rearguard for our group. I have to hold off on a smile as I watch her ears twitch back and forth as she listens for anything suspicious. Reminds me of Yzma on the rare occasions she decides to actually move. I'll keep that to myself though. I don't think she would appreciate being compared to one of our housecats.

Julun and Vi are the ones I'm keeping an extra close eye on. Julun is holding down our left flank and Vi is our point man. Julun uses a modified Ganglion assault rifle that has a lower rate of fire but subsequently has more of a punch, while for close range work she's carrying a photon saber. I guess she prefer's a little more finesse in close quarters than most other Prone. As for her movements she's the epitome of a professional soldier. No wasted motion, no unnecessary noise, all that good stuff.

Vi is the archetypal Wrothian commando, except better. About thirty meters ahead of us he's leading a path towards the bank of the falls while avoiding any surly Indigens. At least that's what I assume he's doing, since even though I know where to look it's hard to pick him out from the foliage surrounding him. I'd have to use my helmet sensors, which consist of a mix of short range thermal and sonar receivers, if I wanted to get a reliable fix on his location. He uses the usual Wrothian complement of weaponry which includes a carbine and thermal edged sword. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to seeing how he uses them.

We continue on for about another hour or so before we arrive near the designated sight and huddle together for a quick meeting. The spot Vi chose is a small rise covered by overhanging brush that provides both a nice vantage point and good camouflage, allowing us the luxury of being able to survey the area without worrying about having our rears chewed off.

I turn towards my team and say, "Well? Any ideas on how we want to go about this? I didn't spot any camouflaged Indigens but that's not saying too much since Dilus or whatever else can be hiding underwater or in those overhangs. I say we keep watch for another hour or so and see if anything reveals itself. Other suggestions?"

Mia raises her hand.

"Why not have someone be bait and draw out whatever's hiding? We have a good vantage point up here and could easily pick off anything that goes after our scapegoat."

"I'll give that particular idea 'low priority'. We're not in any rush here and I wouldn't put it past this planet to spring some sort of nasty surprise on us. You want our bait to suddenly get jumped by some sort of super Tyrant before we can help? Also you only mentioned that idea because you think I'm gonna be the bait don't you?"

"Well duh Chief."

"Sadist."

I turn towards the others.

"So what does everyone else think? I'm hoping it's something other than a, 'send Chief to get eaten by local critters plan'."

I get a chorus of shrugs in reply.

"I'm alright with simply watching for awhile."

"An agreeable plan. I will take first watch if you let me."

"I have no objections Lieutenant."

I give a nod while trying not to gloat in Mia's direction.

"The aye's have it then. Julun, you have first watch for half an hour, everyone else take a breather for now."

They all move to do their own thing while I take a seat and remove my helmet. Mia starts inspecting her raygun for any signs of corrosion, Vi takes up the Wrothian meditation stance they prefer to use when resting and Celica simply watches the surrounding area. I take a look myself and see a few suids placidly drinking from the river about three-hundred meters from us, while some terebras playfully chase each other alongside the bank. Looking at this scene you'd think it was some sort of peaceful nature preserve, rather than a Darwinian playground.

I shrug and take out my personal data pad to add some entries about my latest escapades across Mira.

* * *

Not too long after I came to NLA I decided to start a log of all my activities in case my amnesia suddenly hit again. While there was nothing to suggest that I would suffer another loss of memory, I was frightened by the idea of losing what few experiences I had and wanted to keep some sort of record of what I had accomplished. A poor substitute for the memories themselves, but anything was better than nothing.

I've never told anyone what's actually on this device. I can't decide if this is some sort of stubborn, macho, 'suffer alone' mentality or just a desire for privacy. Probably a bit of both really. I don't really like showing any weakness to others, which is a ridiculous hangup, I know, but I can't bring myself to be a burden of any variety, not when everyone in NLA has their own struggles to deal with.

And there's simply the fact that this device is the one place where I can write or record anything and everything I feel, unfiltered. There's a mix of voice recordings, videos, pictures and tons of written files I've compiled in here. I give a quick rundown of the past couple days, starting from Sharon's job to the fight with the Milsaadi all the way to today's events.

I finish up and take a quick look through all my accumulated entries. From trivial stuff such as foods I tried, places I saw, routine missions I went on, all the way to things that I either cherish or believe define who I currently am.

A list of all my friends with their personality quirks and habits, my realization of being in a MIM, Lao's betrayal and reveal of the Lifehold's passengers, meeting Gi Zang, Ackwar and Celica…a bizarre record of things that would probably bore anyone who wasn't me.

Then again, this isn't for them now is it?

My reverie is interrupted as Julun suddenly speaks up over my comm.

"Cross, Scirpo creature has shown up from place that might be it's nest. I have it's location."

I stand up and slip my helmet back on, moving towards her position.

"Good work Julun. All right everyone breaks over, get ready for live combat."

* * *

"Ok is everyone watching? Class is now in session."

I climb down from our vantage point and smoothly walk towards the Scirpo that is currently poking around in some brush about a hundred meters away, probably looking for some smaller animal.

We decided to go ahead and try to draw out the nest if we could, which provided a convenient opportunity for a hands-on lesson with Vi and Julun.

Not that I think they need it, but whatever.

I raise my delta and fire a single shot into the side of it's head to get things started. The bullet bounces of it's thick hide without too much to show, but that's not what I was aiming for anyway.

Excuse the pun.

Sure enough, the Scirpo gives a surprised shriek and turns in my direction, clearly pissed at my little provocation. It charges towards me without a second thought, moving surprisingly quick on it's segmented legs.

"Ok team these things like to open with some up close and personal moves. They tend to aim for the head, especially the eyes. Dodging backwards is a losing move, since they can keep moving forward on those legs without missing a beat. So instead…"

Right as it takes a violent swing at my head I step into the arc of it's attack and slash at the inside of it's joint with my Ralzes. It's leg gives a satisfying crack and goes flying off over my shoulder, ichor spurting from the wound. It gives a pained shriek and hops back, putting a few meters of distance between us.

"The inside of their leg joints are pretty fragile, a solid strike will break them clean off. Manage that and they tend to respect you, which brings us to our next point…"

The Scirpo curls it's head downward and seems to convulse for a few seconds, it's acid sac pulsing.

"Give em' a little trouble up close and they'll back off and try to melt you with their acid. It's pretty telegraphed, so dodging shouldn't be a problem for people of your guy's skill level. Allow me to demonstrate."

I suit action to words and roll to my left, moving under the stream of bile that comes flooding out of the Scirpo's mouth. I then push off the ground and leap towards it while it's still recovering from emptying it's guts at me. It tries to rear up away from me, but a quick upward thrust of my blade through it's mouth into it's main nerve cluster put's an end to the fight.

Collapsing with a gurgling sigh it gives a few last twitches before dying.

"A masterful fight Lieutenant, I appreciate your demonstration of these creatures strengths and weaknesses."

"Heh, I understand why Captain Slovity respects and admires you so."

"C'mon that's enough about me now."

I glance up at the nine descending Scirpos and smile. I guess they were drawn by the gunshot earlier.

"It's your guy's turn to impress me. I think you can handle those nine right?"

"Say no more Chief, we'll show you up in no time!"

"Don't make a promise you can't keep."

* * *

I shake my head and try hard not to let my jaw hang open. I mean, I knew I had some pretty impressive people on my team, but that was INSANE. The whole fight from start to finish only lasted like eighteen seconds or something. Heck, Vi even took on three of them compared to everyone else who tackled two apiece.

Celica and Mia especially surprised me. I always knew Mia was an exemplary BLADE and Celica had the raw talent to become a force all on her own but…

Sometime in the past couple months when I wasn't looking they became pretty damn scary.

Note to self: _NEVER_ piss off Celica while she's holding a knife.

And these people think I'M the better fighter.

I pull it together and say, "Pretty impressive team, but I think you can drop that time by another two seconds."

I hear Mia try and fail not to laugh and Celica amusedly replies, "We'll try our hardest to live up to your expectations then Cross."

Go figure those two would know what I'm actually thinking.

Vi meanwhile is looking intensely at his three fallen foes and murmurs distractedly to himself, "That should be perfectly achievable…Perhaps instead of cutting the leg off I could go straight for the brain…yes that should work."

I shake my head at his straight man personality.

"I was kidding Vi. Any faster and you guys would put me out of a job."

"Oh. My apologies Lieutenant, Master always did say that I should try to relax more."

"No sweat, developing a sense of humor takes time. Heck, I know some people who have lived for decades and still don't have one."

"You talking about H.B. Chief?"

"Don't tell him I said that, or he'll start trying to develop one. And the mere thought of H.B. trying to crack a joke is scary on a lot of different levels."

"Pardon interruption Cross, but should we not move to acquire the materials? More creatures might be approaching."

"Oh, right. Good call Julun. Ok Celica let's grab our paycheck and get out of here."

"Already doing it Cross. I'll be done in about five or so minutes."

"Ok guys let's keep watch so nothing else gets the jump on us. Stellar work so far, let's not mess up the endgame."

* * *

An uneventful hour or so later we're only about two kilometers from the B.C., with the sun high and the wind gently blowing.

And then, of course, things start to fall apart. Vi suddenly slows his pace before stopping completely.

I frown as I open a channel to his earpiece.

"What's up Vi? Trouble?"

He shakes his head and replies, "I believe so, but it's hard to tell from this distance. There's the definite smell of smoke that comes from high energy weaponry burning foliage…but it's hard to say whether it's from friendly forces or Ganglion."

I nod and turn to Celica.

"Are you hearing anything out of the usual from the direction of the B.C.?"

She frowns and turns her head towards our destination and closes her eyes. While she's doing her thing I access FrontierNav and check on the base's location. What I see turns my frown into a full blown scowl. There's around nineteen or so humanoid signatures accompanied by at least five Skell class signatures. Way too much for a small, newly constructed rest camp.

Celica confirms my suspicions as she turns towards me with her brow furrowed.

"I can't make out much from this far away, especially with all the other noises in the forest, but I'm certain there was the thrum of an a-grav engine mixed in. From this far away there must be a significant amount of vehicles to make such a racket."

I nod and start issuing orders.

"Bad news guys it looks like the Ganglion made a house-call to our base when we were gone and are still occupying it. We need to at least confirm their numbers and see if we can get any hints as to what they're doing here. Vi and Celica, scout ahead and try to get a solid count of how many Ganglion we're dealing with here. Be _damned_ careful though, we don't know how closely they're watching their surroundings. If you don't think you can safely approach, pull back. Heroics only count if you make it back alive."

They both nod and move out. I impulsively grab Celica's hand as she moves past me and give it a gentle squeeze.

"Stay safe out there. And make sure Vi doesn't do anything stupid, I'm worried he might try to do his job a little too well, if you know what I mean."

She reassuringly smiles at me and says, "Don't worry Cross, I don't think he's quite as reckless as you are. Close though."

I chuckle at that.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed."

She then bounds after Vi and I turn towards Julun and Mia.

"Julun, find a spot you can keep an eye on the surrounding area. If any additional Ganglion forces are moving around I want to know about it. Mia, you monitor FrontierNav and see if you can get any additional info on the Ganglion inside the base, and keep an eye out for any passing Indigens, watch Celica and Vi's backs."

"You got it Chief."

Julun nods and starts moving towards a small rise about forty meters to our right. Once that's all taken care of I try to get ahold of BLADE HQ to see if any sort of distress call was sent out or if we're on our own.

To my surprise as soon as I connect to the network I get an incoming call from a nearby BLADE team. I answer and am surprised at who answers.

"BLADE team this is corporal May from the Curators, do you need assistance?"

"Long time no see May, quite a ways from Oblivia aren't yah?"

"Cross? Talk about a small world. You need a hand? We got a distress call from the B.C. and are rushing over to help. Was that you guys?"

"Not this time, we were off on a separate mission. Are you in Skells or on foot?"

"We're all armored up. How's the situation at the base?"

"Crowded. FrontierNav is finding at least twenty foot soldiers and five Skell class signatures. Some of my teammates are finding out what their variants are, you might want to hang tight until we know for sure."

"No arguments here, we're not loaded for a full on firefight anyway. We'll take up a holding pattern for now, keep me posted on what you find."

"Will do."

I raise Julun and ask, "How's the surroundings, any sign of reinforcements?"

"No other Ganglion appear to be in area. Nothing but far-off Auravis."

"Roger that. Mia, anything new on your end?"

"Nothing new, although one of the Skell's is almost certainly a Galdr class. It's engine's heat output is way bigger than the other four."

"Ok we'll wait until Celica and Vi can tell us for sure what we're looking at. Stay sharp."

Around twenty more minutes pass and I just as I'm starting to worry that something might have happened I get a low powered transmission from Vi.

"Lieutenant, Celica and I have located the enemy squad and…seem to be raiding the base's equipment. One Galdr…Qmoevas, and one Quo are part of their Skell forces. The rest…roughly eighteen Prone and one Milsaadi overseer…orders?"

Well the presence of a Quo explains why the message was so fragmented. He must be using hardly any signal strength at all to avoid being detected by it. Also this is starting to seem less like a random Ganglion attack and more like an organized plan of action. Most raiding squads don't bother to bring along something as situational and fragile as a Quo. I nod to myself and raise May, who's keeping a distance of about fourteen kilometers away from the Ganglion.

"We've got an update May. They have a pretty well rounded force occupying our base right now, three Qmoevas, a Galdr and a Quo as well as about twenty infantry."

"A Quo? That doesn't seem like some standard raiding party anymore."

"Funnily enough that's what I thought. Which then begs the question of what exactly they're hoping to accomplish out here. One way or another I don't want to let em' just get away with it for free. You feel like living dangerously?"

"Being doing that since day one on this crazy planet."

"Fair point. Ok, here's what I'm thinking…"

* * *

I slowly crawl up next to where Vi and Celica are camouflaged inside of an overhanging tree limb, overlooking the camp from about sixty meters away. In between Celica's camouflaged suit and Vi's natural penchant for simply blending in I feel like I'm settling in between two phantoms.

Talk about creepy.

I look around the remains of the B.C. and grimace at what I see. Around nine or so BLADEs are scattered across the main site, at least half of them with lethal wounds on their backs.

The attack must have been quick and brutal if it caught most of these guys off guard.

There's also the wreckage of three Skells, my Lailah included, stacked off to one side of the camp. I'd left her in sentry mode when we set off, so she'd probably been targeted by the Ganglion as soon as her threat recognition software told her to start shooting. The damage doesn't look too bad from here, with one large impact crater in the chest and a blown off leg.

But for crying out loud, I _just_ got her out of the repair bay.

I shake my head and crawl over to Vi.

"What have they been up to? Any sign that they're occupying the base?"

He shakes his head and softly replies, "The opposite seemingly. They've been taking equipment from the base and loading it onto the two transports over there. Are they perhaps short of supplies?"

I frown as I look more closely at the activities occurring in a sort of organized frenzy. The Ganglion never seemed to be interested in most Human tech before, so why the sudden change in policy? Like Vi said they could be running short of materials, but I don't buy that. They still have all their bases in Cauldros up and running, as well as a few strongholds left in Noctilum, Sylvalum and Oblivia. They should be just fine if it's resources they're after.

I table that train of thought and focus on the here and now. Keeping my voice low I address the rest of my team.

"Ok guys here's the game plan. May and her team are going to try get the attention of a few Ganglion and draw them off so we can cause our own brand of chaos. If they can thin out their numbers a bit we'll harass the rest of them and generally make life miserable. That said, don't pull any dumb heroic stunts. We're the outnumbered and outgunned side here. Just be quick and quiet. Get ready."

I get a chorus of nods and everyone moves to take up ambushing positions without me even having to tell them to. That's professionalism for you.

We take up our positions and settle in to wait for May's group to do their thing. Barely a minute goes by before a dozen of the Prone suddenly start up the transports and leave, heading towards Lotus Keep I bet. The others start attaching magnetic grapples to the wrecked Skells, presumably to drag them along as well.

Dammit if May doesn't start her attack soon these guys will already be long gone before we even get to-

My thought's are interrupted by the sudden sound of charging beam weapons as the Ganglion mechs suddenly turn towards me, weapons being raised and prepared to fire. It takes every bit of discipline I have not to turn tail and run, as I remind myself that they're not actually aiming at me.

Sure enough, once they open fire the shots fly well above my head, heading towards the open sky. A few distant booms echo through the trees, as if missiles had been shot down well short of their targets.

Which was the plan all along. May and her pals aren't here to fight a war, just tweak a few noses and generally piss off the Ganglion. Sure enough another flight of missiles get's shot down without much difficulty, but the booms sound quite a bit closer this time. At this point May and her little hit-and-run squad are probably just outside of the weapon range of the Ganglion, daring them to come and pick a fight.

And sure enough all of the Qmoevas as well as the Quo lift off and speed off into the distance, leaving seven Prone and their Milsaadi overseer to hurriedly finish attaching the grapples to the Galdr. I open a channel to the entire team and start rapidly issuing orders.

"It's our turn at bat guys. Julun and Mia, focus fire on the Galdr and knock it out of the fight, don't hold back on the ammunition. Vi and Celica, follow me in once I give the signal. I'll draw their fire, take advantage of that and finish them off. Clear?"

I get a round of affirmatives and settle myself down to pick the moment to spring our assault. The Prone look to be finishing up their work as most of them step back, while two motion for the Galdr to bend lower so they can attach the final tethers to it's hull. In doing so it exposes it's main engine to where Mia and Julun are hiding.

"Now."

No sooner do I finish speaking than a full powered two-second burst from Mia's raygun hammers into the main drive of the Galdr, causing a wild burst of flame to shoot out of it's breached armor into the faces of the two nearby Prone. They give pained shouts that don't last for long, since Julun follows up beautifully with a grenade impacting directly where Mia's raygun previously hit and causing a firestorm of shrapnel to shred the two burning Prone.

With a mechanical groan the Galdr slumps forward and powers down.

That's my signal then. I take a deep breath and push off the ground in an open sprint towards the remaining infantry. It's about sixty-five meters of open ground between me and them with little in the way of cover, and they're getting over their shock and starting to look around for the source of the attack. I spot the Milsaadi giving instructions to the remaining Prone, getting them organized and prepared for an attack.

Well we can't have that now can we?

I line up my two deltas on his center of mass and lay on the trigger, not bothering to conserve ammo. Thirty-two rounds scream downrange, tearing into the Milsaadi and dropping him with a wet thud.

Well that should have got their attention.

Sure enough the remaining five Prone all turn in my direction and raise their weapons. My armor's camo system might throw off their aim for a second or two, but after that they'll have a clear shot at me, and there's not a single bit of good cover out here.

Maybe I should have thought this through a bit more carefully.

I throw myself into a side roll that slips me past the initial volley, and I come up running towards a small crest in the ground about ten meters away. Not what I would choose to shield myself against five angry Prone with guns, but it'll have to do.

I sneak a glance out of the corner of my eye and see one Prone's head burst into a scarlet fountain as Celica's opening shot tags him, and I catch a blur that's probably Vi sprint right into their midst with his sword already out and ready. So far so good.

Which of course jinxes me because once I'm only five meters away from the depression a hail of bullets catches me full in the side. Most of them are only glancing, with only one shot landing solidly, but taking glancing hits from a military grade weapon designed for a being twice the size of a human still ain't a bed of roses.

I give a surprised wheeze and land solidly on the ground, trying to get some air into my spasming lungs. I eventually manage despite what feels like a giant stepping on my chest, and focus on the area around me.

My eyes are still having a bit of trouble focusing, and I see a hazy image of what I'm pretty sure is Celica. I shake my head and try to get my bearing straight.

"Cross, Cross are you alright?!"

Her voice sounds oddly distant, which is weird because I don't remember getting hit in the head. Well whatever.

I try to respond and end up wheezing pathetically into my voice pickup. I take a deep breath and try again.

"I'm good, I barely even felt that."

Celica gives a sigh of relief and I hear Mia say in an awestruck voice, "Holy crap Chief, I know I tease you about being bait all the time, but I'm honestly starting to think you have a penchant for self-harm that's got nothing to do with me."

"I thought all BLADE's had a taste for self-destruction."

"Yah, but if I didn't know any better I'd say you were of the masochistic type."

"Har har. Forget that, what are our Ganglion pals up to?"

"All accounted for lieutenant. If I may say so, that was a rather impressive beating you took."

"Thanks I guess? Anyway let's take this opportunity to figure out what they were trying to carry off. The other Skell group might be on their way back any moment."

Everyone hops to, with Celica giving me a hand up. "I'm alright, go help the others. The quicker we're out of here the better."

She gives a dubious frown.

"You're certain? If you don't mind me saying so you're kind of a mess right now."

I glance down at myself and can't quite stop my eyebrows from shooting up. Aside from a dent the size of my thumb that was caused by the direct hit, there's something like seven other gouges and scars on the arms and chest piece. Man, I must have taken even more of a pounding than I thought.

I ignore the damage to the armor for now and put up a brave front, "It's fine, armor that does it's job is supposed to look like this."

She gives an incredulous shake of her head but goes off to help Julun. I breathe a sigh of relief and remove my helmet for a moment, and feel my eye twitch as I look at the outside of the helm. There's a slight depression running from front to back where a round must have just grazed the dome. Well I guess that explains why I was all dizzy and disoriented.

Christ I'm just glad that specific bullet wasn't the one that hit home. I raise May on the comm and ask, "How's things on your end? We're all finished up here."

It takes her a moment to respond, since I imagine she's busy at the moment.

"Well they're not giving up easily, we must have led them across half of Everwhelm Falls by now. I can't imagine they're going to keep this up for much longer now though."

"Ok just keep em occupied for a few more minutes, then we'll be out of here."

"Roger that, we're nothing if not pros at running away."

I sign off and start moving towards my team. I head towards Mia who is currently picking over the remains of the Skells. She sees me heading over and doesn't look to excited at my approach.

"What's the bad news Mia? You're not good at keeping a poker face."

"It's about your Skell Chief. Take a look at it's viewfinders and circuitry."

Ignoring my own trepidation I jump up onto it's hull and take a look at the head section where most of the sensor equipment is stashed.

"Shit!"

Mia winces at my outburst and everyone else looks at me worriedly. I ignore them and get a closer look at what the Ganglion did to my poor machine. The sensor arrays and electronics weren't just taken, it looks like they were ripped out at the roots, with dangling circuit boards and hanging fiber optics all over the place. I heave a defeated sigh and turn towards Mia.

"Well mechanic? What's your best guess at the repair time needed to fix this?"

Mia frowns down at the wreckage and takes a moment before giving her answer.

"Even with your high priority and everything, this is looking like a couple weeks, if not a month of necessary downtime. It's not so simple as just getting a bunch of replacement parts and sticking them back in, they're going to have to redo the entire innards with new cables and circuit boards. Honestly it might just be easier to scrap her and-"

"Ok ok, I get the picture. Damn, I just got her fixed up and everything."

I scowl at the stacked bodies of the Ganglion nearby before turning away and try to figure out what they were doing here. Scavenging our technology is a pretty big departure from Ganglion S.O.P, maybe they really do have a shortage of resources after all.

Well it's not my place to figure that out, thankfully.

A sudden message from May brings me out of rumination.

"Heads up Cross, our dance partners just left the party and are heading back to what I'm pretty certain is Lotus Keep. It doesn't look like they're going to pass over your position, but it'd suck to be wrong. You might want to clear out from there."

"I think we'll do just that. Great job out there May, and thanks for the backup."

"Hey, happy to help. We'll stick around in the area, let us know if you need a ride back to base."

"Now that you mention it, I think we'll take you up on that. My Skell got wrecked earlier."

"Damn, that's never a fun situation to be in. Ok give us some coordinates and we'll meet you there."

"Roger that. See you then."

I sign off and address my team.

"Ok guys our part in this is over. Our new objective is to get back to NLA in one piece. Good work today, once we get back the food is on me."

"Lieutenant, are we just going to leave all the bodies here?"

"I know what you mean Vi, but with the Ganglion nosing around and their Skell teams apparently patrolling the area I don't want to risk getting caught out. If they can BLADE HQ will send out a recovery team to take care of the base, but that's not on us."

"You're right. My apologies Lieutenant, I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Don't worry about it Vi, I'd have been way more uncomfortable if someone _didn't_ feel bad about leaving this mess behind."

I take one last look around the remains of the B.C. with it's corpses and wrecked Skells littered around the area. If there's a jungle scavenger out there that loves metal composites, then this scrapyard would be it's every fantasy come true.

"Fall out team."

We leave the wreckage behind and melt into the jungle. Time to head home.

* * *

"To commemorate our first successful mission with no deaths and only a few injuries, shared in large part by yours truly, cheers guys! The tab is on me!"

"Your the best leader a BLADE could ask for Chief. You take all the pain _and_ pay for our food!"

"Don't get used to it, I know how much you can eat when it's not your money buying it Mia."

"Well that was a pretty harsh thing to say Chief."

"Tell me it's not true."

"Well…I can't really."

I smile and lean back in my chair at one of the outside stalls of the _Six Stars Diner,_ NLA's first Wrothian owned and run restaurant. The journey back to NLA had been a rather roundabout one, what with needing to meet up with May, hitch a ride back to NLA and then get debriefed about the Ganglion raiders, but arrive in one piece we did.

We briefly separated, since Celica had to turn in the mission results, I had to write an after-action report and everyone else went to get cleaned up and rest. But later that night I suggested we meet up for a little party and called in a favor to get us good seats at the _Six Stars._

Ni Zain must be making a killing off of this place, because it's ALWAYS packed to the brim with people. The waiting line's had gotten so bad Ni Zain's financial advisor had just decided that reservation's would have to be made ahead of time. Which worked out great on my end, since Ni Zain is always happy to accommodate me since I helped him get into the cooking business in the first place.

Sure enough he comes walking over with the Wrothian equivalent of a smile, fangs bared and gleaming. More than a few humans were freaked out by the Wrothian's smiles, since to us it looks a lot like some predator's threat display, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

"Cross, well met! You've brought quite the mix of friends this time around."

I give an answering grin and reply, "They're my new teammates so I figured I might as well treat them to the best food on Mira."

"Ah surely you jest my friend."

"I won't deny that I joke a lot, but food is a deadly serious business. Seriously Ni Zain, that kitchen of yours has probably done more to improve Human's feelings toward's Xeno's than half this cities social workers."

"Flattery won't earn you a discount, if that's what you're after."

"Well crap, you found me out."

"Never mind that, where are you manners? Introduce these warrior's to me!"

"Oh right. Guys this is Ni Zain, owner and head chef of this place. Ni Zain, meet Mia, Celica, Julun and Vi Leand."

"Good to meet yah Chef!"

"It is a pleasure meet you Ni Zain."

"I am keenly interested to taste meal of cook Cross holds in such regard."

"Well met Ni Zain. Forgive me for asking, but were you not in Ga Jiarg's service in Oblivia?"

"Alas I was, but upon coming to this city I found a calling more suiting to me than that of a warrior. Here I can help far many more people with a meal than I could ever hope too with a sword. Hopefully you can forgive a question of my own, but I had heard of a warrior named Vi Leand being trained by Zo Ozuchi himself. Are you him?"

"I am indeed, although I am currently training away from my Master's guidance. Since his defeat in the Battle Gauntlet by the Lieutenant, he wished to regain his former strength."

Ni Zain looks at me with open wonder.

"I can imagine who this 'Lieutenant' might be…did you truly beat Zo Ozuchi?"

"It's kind of an overstatement to say I 'beat' him, since I have zero confidence I can replicate the feat."

"And yet I would never have believed that the legendary Zo Ozuchi could have been defeated in the first place…stars above Cross, is there anything you _can't_ do?"

"There sure is, and that's wait any longer before ordering. What's on the menu today?"

A few minutes later we all have our orders logged and are waiting for the food to arrive. I settle back into my chair as _Los Angeles_ from the old terrestrial band _X_ plays in the background.

" _She get's confused, flying over the dateline, her hands turn red._ "

Julun looks quizzically at Mia and me and asks, "From my understanding this city was based off of real one back on Earth. What kind of place was it? There seem to be many songs that both praise and insult it."

I turn to Mia to let her field this one, seeing as how she grew up there and everything. She get's a melancholy smile on her face as she seems to revisit old times.

"Well both songs are right actually. Los Angeles could be both a dump and an amazing place. It depended on where you were in the city. And even then things were always changing, with some districts of the city becoming nicer, while other would become dumpier. I came from a nicer part of the city, but I had a few friends who came from…less fortunate circumstances that me. I got to see both worlds pretty regularly."

Julun nods pensively.

"Interesting. A city of both wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness. Dualities do make for fine music."

" _The days change at night, change in an instant!_ "

I nod and say somewhat amusedly, "Well we try our best to remember the city with both music and traditions, but get this Julun. Only like seven or eight percent of the Humans in NLA actually lived in Los Angeles."

She looks at me in surprise.

"So few? Why is that?"

"Mostly because of the selection process for the _White Whale._ The civilians living in NLA came mostly from up and down the former U.S. West Coast states, only a fraction of them actually lived in Los Angeles. With the BLADE's its even more diverse. A lot of them were hand selected from all over the country, and more than a few came from other continents."

Mia gives me a sharp look.

"What does, 'alot of them' mean? You're a BLADE too Chief. What you should have said was, 'alot of us'."

I sigh tiredly.

"Right, right, sorry Mia. Still not used to thinking of myself as being around back then."

Vi leans back in his chair pensively.

"Hmm…a whole city of people adopting a culture that is not their own. I confess that this seems like a strange concept…but a fascinating one all the same. It's certainly a concept foreign to us Wrothians."

Celica smiles and happily replies, "Fascinating is certainly how I would describe it. Had I never never seen NLA with my own eyes, I would never have believed such a diverse city existed among all the numerous stars."

I spy a waiter coming over with a a few plates full of food and interject with, "Hate to interrupt the conversation guys, but we have incoming."

I give a grin a starved Nopon would recognize at the sight of my meal. Freshly baked sourdough loaves with Suid meat and assorted vegetables jam packed inside, glazed with Ni Zain's own special spicy blend of Miran herbs.

People, Heaven does exist, and it's name is food.

I take a look around the table and see that Mia got the _Six Stars_ specialty curry, Celica got the same thing as me while Julun and Vi went with the meat lovers choice of Roast Auravis breast. Everyone's about to dig in, but I hold up a hand and they all glance towards me.

"First a toast. To the success of our new team! May we conquer Mira's trials, whether in flesh-and-blood or a MIM, and keep all our limbs!"

Once I finish Mia raps the table with her knuckles and we all look at her strangely.

"Knock on wood? What, you guys don't know that one?"

"Well obviously we don't. What's it mean?"

"Just a little way to keep good luck from going bad. Nothing serious, relax people."

Vi, Julun, Celica and I all look at each other, then simultaneously rap the table together.

No sense in taking chances right?

* * *

Chausson sighed as he looked over the various reports that Vandham and Nagi had placed before him. He locked eyes with the two of them and set his jaw.

"And you both agree with this conclusion?"

Nagi nodded and grimly replied, "All of our intelligence analysts agree that this is a certain sign that the Ganglion have finally organized themselves and are taking action against us once again. Organized raids on our observation posts, scavenging technology they had previously ignored, therefore depriving us of taking the salvage ourselves? I agree with their assessment that there's a new Ganglion commander calling the shots, and they have an idea or two how to wage an effective war."

He gave a sigh as he took another look at the report filed by both Cross and May. He did have to admit, this new M.O. the Ganglion seemed to be adopting was a radically different one than Luxaar had employed. They appeared to be taking Humanity and it's allies far more seriously, which was less than pleasant news for NLA. So far they had taken advantage of the Ganglion's dismissive attitude toward's Humanity, operating largely with impunity as long as they didn't attract any attention.

The reality was the the Ganglion still held an advantage in terms of military prowess, even accounting for all their recent losses. If they were beginning to actively seek out and stymie Human activity on Mira…changes were going to have to be made to BLADEs current tactics and goals. He focused his gaze on Vandham next.

"So what will be our immediate goals, and how are we going to go about implementing them?"

"Well…it's going to suck, put bluntly. Before we've been able to skirt around the Ganglion's forces and mostly avoid large-scale engagements. But now that they seem to be actively hunting for us, trying to just avoid them will only end up killing more BLADEs than it saves. Nagi and I agree. It's time to start actively taking action against the Ganglion, and either force em' to surrender or make friends with us."

"…and you believe we can do so?"

"We got a choice?"

"Fair enough."

Tiredly leaning back in his chair Chausson closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them after a second, newfound energy in his movements, he sat up straight and gazed evenly at his colleagues.

"Very well, I'll start finding a way to break this news to the citizens without giving too much away. For my own personal interest, what will be our first main target?"

Nagi and Vandham glance at each other before Vandham answers, "Badr Stronghold."

* * *

Nahum gave an exasperated sigh as she waited for…well, _something_ to demand her attention. Taking control of the Ganglion had been far easier than she expected. Originally she had thought Dadaan's followers would put up far more resistance to her leadership, but they had followed her with little complaint.

In hindsight that was to be expected, she supposed. Dadaan had led his faction through strength and intimidation, of course they would naturally gravitate toward the one who killed him in a 'fair' fight. Unfortunately that left her with precious little to do except wait. All the administrative details were being ably handled by underlings and the remaining Ganglion commanders were at the very least competent enough to keep their troops supplied and combat ready.

Instead Nahum decided to check on the progress of her newest research project. While she would normally assist in the modifications to Nardacyon while there was nothing else to occupy her attention, she was needed here in Sylvalum.

Arriving at one of the prefabricated buildings scattered around the base, she placed her palm on the security lock and the door cycled open. Inside was a variety of computer equipment, as well as one of the Human Data Probes. She had ordered this one to be covertly retrieved, leaving behind scattered pieces to suggest an Indigen had dug up and then destroyed the Probe.

While Luxaar had foolishly ignored the Human's survey network, Nahum was inclined to find out how it worked, and whether it could be turned against it's creators. Two of her subordinates were working tirelessly on the device, hoping to uncover the secrets to it's programming.

One of them, a male Milsaadi, turned to Nahum and gave a small respectful nod.

"Greetings to you mistress."

"How is the progress on the device?"

He hesitated a second before carefully replying, "Slow. While the computer system is similar to ours, with a binary yes/no system, the programming and security inherent to this device is worthy of praise. It will take weeks before we can break into the system and effect changes into the vermin's network. Even then we can't hope for more than two changes before this probe is isolated as the cause of the problem and permanently locked out."

"Can we not simply make our own devices to interact with theirs?"

"Unlikely. Any programming change made by one of these probes is carefully logged and examined for malware, I would imagine the addition of new probes to their network is given even more attention than that. Creating our own devices and connecting them to the Human's system unnoticed is impossible without months more work."

Nahum gave a nod. She had assumed as much, although it irked her to be right in this case.

Leaving the lab behind for now she decided she might as well inspect the Skell forces, since there was apparently nothing else to do.

She hoped the Human's would hurry and actually do something. She had a high opinion of NLA's commanders, and was surprised that they had not yet taken moves against her forces yet.

Well no matter. The Human's and their allies were smart enough to realize that they could no longer ignore the Ganglion, and would eventually have to take the fight to them sooner or later.

And when they eventually did, Nahum would be waiting.


	5. Chapter 5: Initial Breakdown

Chapter 5: Initial Breakdown

"The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day."

― **David Foster Wallace** , **This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life**

"…and you found her on the Floating Reefs? How in Wroth's name did she get up there?"

"After spending more than a year with them, you eventually just stop asking how or why the Nopon do anything they do and just roll with it. She probably just rode on a Jacul's back or something along those lines."

"The Nopon never cease to amaze, do they Lieutenant?"

"Both for better and for worse. But yah, amazement is as good a way to describe it as any."

I hear Julun laughing over the comm.

"I would like to meet this Chiroro. She sounds like quite the interesting personality."

"She certainly takes her business seriously, I tell you that."

I had initially thought that Julun and Vi would be all over the war stories and stuff that I had gone through over the past months, but surprisingly they have the most fun hearing about the more mundane and sometimes stupid things I've had to deal with in NLA.

From Ni Zain's introduction to the world of cooking, to Chiroro and Felicia's hair adventure, to the Nopon's fireworks display for Elder Nan, all manner of weird stuff you run into on Mira.

I think they're amused by the idea of me, the guy who's respected by both of their role models, running around the city being an errand boy.

Well what the heck. I think it's kinda funny too.

I check our location on FrontierNav and give a small nod. About twenty minutes out from our target. I glance in the back seat where Celica and Mia are asleep and raise my voice.

"Ok girls, time to wake up and get ready to move."

They both stretch as they wake up and I quickly avert my eyes as Celica stretches her back and pushes out her chest. The bodysuit she wears is a great piece of engineering, providing free ease of movement and protection similar to a bulletproof vest. It also tends to accentuate the wearers 'physique', of which I'm still rather shy around.

Blushing in front of everybody wouldn't exactly preserve my authority as Squad Lead. Dear God I'm a pathetic man.

Yawning Mia asks, "We almost there Chief?"

"Yup, twenty minutes or so out. Time flies when you have good conversation buddies."

She grins and turns towards Julun who's in the front seat.

"Chief telling you guys about more of his crazy adventures on Mira? Forget the stuff he tells you, I have the _real_ juicy stories he's way too embarrassed to tell anyone."

I snort at her words.

"Oh please, I'm dying to hear about all these supposed scandals that you were a part of. Hit me with your best shot."

"I didn't say that _I_ was a part of them. But I am a pretty good friend of Lin's…"

Ok, this means war.

"Say what you will Mia, but I do seem to recall rescuing you from both a Jacul and Ganglion prison cell…in fact I can recall the stench you-"

"Ok ok! Sheesh Chief you play really dirty sometimes."

"Events exist that scare Cross into threats? Captain Slovity would be quite interested in these I think…"

"Oh now don't you start as well Julun, I don't know any dirty secrets of yours so I'll have to resort to benign neglect."

I hear muffled snickers from Vi and Celica, with Celica then saying, "If you're interested in rather humiliating stories about our great leader, then I believe I have the greatest one yet. He and I were on a Prospector mission in Noctilum when we ran across a Simius-"

I jerk hard on the steering wheel and her story is cut off as everyone gets thrown to the side.

Vi comes over the radio from the gunners platform going, "What was that, did you encounter anything Lieutenant?"

"Nope, just an Ovis crossing the road."

I look at Celica in the rear-view mirror with pleading eyes.

" _E tu_ , _Brute?_ "

"I'm not familiar with that saying. Another Earth custom?"

Mia smiles and benevolently says, "Ah let him off the hook Celica, he's about to fall apart here."

In a not-so-subtle whisper she then says, "Tell me about it later!"

I give a resigned shake of my head and focus on driving. Being the target of a horny female Simius in heat was mortifying in a way that beggars my powers of description.

* * *

It's been two and a half weeks since we had our first mission together in Noctilum, and I find myself surprised at how quickly we've come together as a team.

Dare I say, how quickly we've come together as friends?

Julun is the Mother of the group, having taken over my usual role of middle of the pack coordinator. She's my equal, if not better, at small unit tactics and quick decision making. She also has an open and friendly attitude, and never hesitates to listen to what the rest of us have to say. She's also just as likely to shoot down any dumb ideas we have, but that's part of her charm.

Her taking over my previous position freed me up to be in the vanguard alongside Vi.

At first I was a little concerned whether Vi would be able to comfortably fit in with our group, Wrothians aren't exactly known for their vast repertoire of sarcastic humor and petty digs, which Mia and I are constantly engaged in. But he surprised me yet again by adapting to our more informal chain of command and even joining in on the fun. He plays the straight man most of the time, but will occasionally dish out a well timed joke, often at my expense.

My only problem with him is that he still insists on calling me Lieutenant.

Mia hasn't changed a bit since when I first met her, but then she doesn't have to. She's the ice breaker of the group, smoothing over any difficulties we have in communication with her borderline oblivious levels of friendliness. She makes Julun and Vi feel welcome in the way only an irrepressibly optimistic joker can.

Even if they don't understand half of her jokes.

Celica is, for the lack of a better word, the translator for our group. As a Xeno who's spent a lot more time among Humans than either Julun or Vi, she helps the two of them with Human concepts and values that don't translate well into their own culture. Add in the fact that she's used to dealing with Mia and I, especially our unique brand of humor, and she's the one who can help them figure out what the two Human idiots are even talking about.

In hindsight I'm _very_ glad I decided to accept her into the squad.

And now we're in for our first real trial-by-fire as a team. Until now we mostly just took on the random collection mission or Indigen hunt, slowly getting used to each other, but playtimes over.

* * *

After Chausson's announcement that the Ganglion had a new commander priorities shifted drastically for NLA.

Rather than evenly spreading out the cities resources, we're back on war footing with the lions share going to the arms manufacturers and their subsidiaries. NLA's continued expansion will have to take the backseat for now.

Not too many people were happy about this, as they seemed to have convinced themselves that the Ganglion were beaten, but griping pretty quickly ended once news of several raids against BLADE outposts was released. Most people seem to get it now, it's them or us.

What this means for me and my team is that it's now our turn to shine. Our first counteroffensive against the Ganglion is fairly simple, with a few concentrated assaults against some of their outposts surrounding the Badr Basin and Anvil Sandplains, while one larger force moves on Badr Stronghold itself.

Taking out these bases will be our first step towards the Anvil Rock One stronghold, and then eventually Cauldros. My team's objective is a small listening and observation outpost that serves as a key relay between the western and eastern bases of Sylvalum. Our assault is timed to begin ten minutes before the main force of ten Skells and two platoons of heavy infantry attack Badr Stronghold, hopefully keeping the Ganglion from mounting any sort of effective defense or alerting other stations of our movements.

A delicate operation that relies on me and my team pulling our weight and getting the task done right.

Well, at least I have the right people for the job.

* * *

"How's it look Vi, anything out of the usual?"

"That depends, is it usual for a Ganglion base to seemingly be devoid of Ganglion?"

I frown at this latest bit of unpleasant news.

It'd taken us about an hour after we hid the car to slowly make our way to the base's position and set up our ambush, but unnerving situations kept popping up.

First was the fact that there seemed to be no Ganglion aircraft in the sky around this area. While we weren't exactly being conspicuous, there's usually at least a Fal-Swo patrol every two hours surveying the area, watching for groups such as ours. The fact that there's nothing in the skies is more unsettling than if there _had_ been Ganglion patrol craft.

Add in this latest bit that apparently there are no people manning the station and I'm more than a little paranoid about this expedition.

Scowling I think about this for a second before addressing the whole team.

"Vi, Celica and I will move closer so we can get a clearer scan of the base, see if thermal or sonar gets us anything. Mia, Julun, you keep an eye out for us. If anything looks out of place to you, I want to know about it right away. Keep your eyes peeled guys."

I get a chorus of terse acknowledgements and frown. Everyone else is apparently feeling a little on edge as well.

"Vi, Celica. We're still ahead of schedule a bit, so take it nice and slow. Let's see if we can find out what's up with the base."

I'd like to believe that the Ganglion just got lazy and decided to sleep away the day inside the main building…but every instinct I have is screaming that things have gone sideways here.

Celica and I engage our Camo systems while Vi does his thing and we slowly advance on the compund, carefully watching for any signs of an ambush.

Silent as a tomb.

I demagnetize my Delta Retic and link it's scope into my helmet display. I pan over the base and don't see any overt thermal signs. In fact it looks like the base has been abandoned for a day or two. I decide to risk an open transmission, even if only to get a faster response from HQ.

"BLADE HQ, this is Cross from the Sylvalum vanguard squads. We've arrived at the Ganglion relay station but have encountered no signs of Ganglion anywhere. Please advise."

I wait a few seconds and receive only light static in reply. It could be that my message didn't have enough strength to reach HQ…or the signal is being jammed.

Ok I've had enough. They can court-martial me back at NLA for disobeying orders for all I care, but this is way too creepy for my tastes.

We're pulling out.

"Everyone pull back. We're calling off the mission."

There's a moment of terse silence before they start moving away from the outpost.

Vi privately comms me and says, "Lieutenant, I can infiltrate the base and find out for certain what-"

"Negative. It might very well be abandoned…or have a bomb rigged to blow the second someone get's too close. Too many things that shouldn't be happening are happening. We're leaving Vi."

He hesitates for a second before nodding.

"Understood Lieutenant."

We meet up a couple hundred meters away from the base and everyone looks to me. Julun tentatively asks, "What should be our next goal Cross? Retreat back to the main B.C. or meet with main force?"

A good question that.

"Let's head back to the car and see if we can get any luck with it's comm equipment, after that we'll-"

I'm suddenly interrupted by the comm emitting the tone for distress calls and my stomach sinks. I answer with a growing trepidation and hear, "BLADE group…Under fir…evacuate…reinforcements inbound…ierNav unreliable…all back! I repeat…"

I close the line and immediately snap out orders.

"Back to the car, forget being stealthy, let's move!"

Everyone seems to get that this mission has suddenly taken a turn for the worse and don't ask any questions. We don't get more than five steps before Celica suddenly frowns and looks over her shoulder. Eyes widening she tackles Julun to the ground and shouts, "Duck!"

Vi turns into a blur as he also tackles Mia to the ground, as she doesn't immediately get the message. I also dive onto the ground not a second before several beam cannon shots rip through the air right where we were standing a split second ago.

What the Hell? Nothing was showing up on FrontierNav so how did-

Oh. I get it.

Looks like the Ganglion are starting to appreciate the benefits of electronic warfare a bit. Whatever hit the other Sylvalum squads, I think we're about to get a taste of it.

* * *

I throw myself into a shoulder roll that brings me behind a boulder with not a moment to spare as a hail of enemy fire rips apart one of Sylvalums native trees that I was previously occupying. Those trunks of theirs are surprisingly sturdy, but evolution geared them towards surviving arid conditions and the occasional forager, not magnetically accelerated bullets.

I take a glance towards Vi who's sharing this particular rock with me and find him staring intently in my direction, clearly waiting orders.

Yah. Orders. That thing the Leader is supposed to give in times like this.

Christ I don't know how Elma or anyone else who runs a squad deals with this kind of pressure on a regular basis.

I shake my head and instead of complaining I try to think of a way out of this.

The initial salvo was fired from a Qmoeva that has been intermittently strafing us, flying low and at extreme angles that keeps us from focusing any sort of fire on it. It's under a similar handicap, having a near impossible time hitting us, but then again it's not the playmaker here.

The real problem is the twelve or so Marnucks that keep harassing and shelling us no matter where we go, preventing us from grouping up in one place for too long or escaping.

See, this sort of situation is EXACTLY why I'd rather fight a bunch of Prone than Marnucks. We call them the 'Space Savages' but they should really be thought of as 'Space Commandos'. They use tactics and ambushes that more than make up for their lack of the Prone's inherent strength, and is really making life suck for us right now.

If we were fighting Prone, all we would have to do is wait until they get bored and rush us, then cut them down one by one.

Not so with these guys. To make matters worse that Qmoeva took a slight detour after it's opening barrage to blow our vehicle to smithereens, so even that slim hope is out of the running. And we sure as Hell can't rely on other BLADEs for backup.

In between the jamming and other Ganglion assaults I think it's a safe assumption that we're on our own.

My reverie is interrupted by the sound of a hollow _thwump_ and my instincts take over. Vi is right behind me as we dive away from our cover, just as a fragmentation shell explodes five meters above the ground, throwing white hot slivers of metal at the area where we were crouched, shattering the rock face and generally making a mess of the landscape in a six meter radius.

Great, they have artillery too.

"Lieutenant, we can't just keep evading them forever, sooner or later we'll have to-"

"I _know_ that Vi. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them."

"Understood Lieutenant."

I give an internal sigh at my sharp response. No sense in taking it out on him, it's not _his_ responsibility to think of a solution. I do the mental equivalent of counting to three in order to tamp down the beginnings of panic I start to feel claw at my mind and force myself to _think._

There has to be a way out of this. So what if there's no apparent solution? Improvisation is a hallmark of mine. C'mon Cross, you can work something out…what is it Nagi likes to say?

" _If you've played the game correctly and are still losing, then the time has come to play a new one with new rules."_

New game…like all things Sun Tzu sounding it's easy to say, not so easy to put into practice. Plus It's not like I can just tell the Ganglion, "Sorry guys but these rules suck, we're starting over" and expect them to go home. So how do I-

Wait. _That's it._ Duh.

Who says we have to keep messing around with the Ganglion?

"Mia! Are there any caverns near this area? Within two or three kilometers?"

She spent a pretty decent amount of time exploring this area before she became a BLADE, if any of us should be familiar with this territory it's her.

"Uhh, yah actually, there is. It just leads to an unmapped network of tunnels though, I didn't look very far-"

"Don't worry about it that's just what we need!"

I do a quick scan of the area and see a depression that's surrounded by a few rocky outcropings. That'll work as an impromptu meeting room.

"Everyone meet up at the sinkhole forty meters behind my location, move!"

Vi and I make it halfway before another shell lands behind us and wrecks the landscape, showering us with dirt and other detrius. About fifty-seven seconds in between shellings by my count, at least there's a window of opportunity there. We make it the rest of the way without incident to find Julun and Mia already waiting, with Celica vaulting the edge not a second later.

"Ok quick briefing here. There's a series of underground tunnels nearby that we can use to throw off our pursuers and maybe even escape their notice. We'll get there using staggered retreats, one group at a time. Mia, Julun, you two stick together. Vi and Celica, you're with me. Provide covering fire for each group. If there's any questions you have twelve seconds to ask before another grenade lands on our heads."

Everyone decides to hold their tongues.

"Ok let's move and stay alive guys!"

I get a chorus of 'yes sir!'s and we all clamber out of the hole behind new cover. I take a deep breath and try to relax.

We have a way out, time to fight our way too it.

* * *

I unclasp my Retic and flick off the safety, which produces a small hum as it's power core comes online.

The Retic is best friend for those who aren't good at conventional sniping, such as myself. Considering my numerous talents when it comes to killing things in varied ways, I was surprised to learn that long distance shooting isn't one of my strong points.

I mean, I'm ok at it, but nowhere near the level of Bozé, and just forget Lao. That guy could pick the wings off a vesper from nearly a kilometer away. The Retic allows me to play to my strengths, which is fast and accurate shooting from mid-to-close ranges, without having to do any actual sniping.

The Retic uses an internal power cell to fire off a ten-megawatt laser in a fraction of a second, compressing the energy of a more conventional two-hundred grams of explosives into a very short, very powerful burst.

Mediocre shooters like myself appreciate this since a laser doesn't involve any additional factors such as bullet drop, wind speed and direction, or even travel time. A laser goes in a straight line, at the speed of light and doesn't have any recoil when fired, it's totally dependent on the skill of the operator.

There's some tradeoffs though. It's god awful for speed shooting, since there's a mandatory three second cool down between shots, while ammo is both bulky and unwieldy. One power cell only has enough juice for five shots, and I'm only carrying one spare. Not to mention the gun is huge, so it's not exactly a first choice for ease of traveling.

I couldn't give less of a crap about the downsides right now though, especially since my Deltas aren't exactly designed for these kinds of distances.

"Julun, Mia, go, now!"

At my command they're up and running in a zig-zagging pattern, hopefully to throw off the aim of the Marnucks still holed up across the plains. Simultaneously Celica, Vi and myself all ease out of cover and start to return fire.

I sight on one of the boulders scattered across the terrain where a lot of the fire is originating from. Through the scope I see around three or so Marnucks behind a portable barrier. Two of them are operating a field artillery piece, while a third is aiming a kinetic weapon of some variety in Mia and Julun's direction. I don't have a clear shot at the mortar operators so I let my aim slowly drift over to the third guys head, slowly breathe out…and squeeze the trigger.

With a quiet thrum the weapon fires out an invisible beam that's only visible because of the stray bits of sand in the air it disintegrates.

And, of course, the mess it makes out of my targets head. The beam catches him in the throat, and there's a brief sun-bright glare before I'm treated to the charming image of his head coming apart in a mix of smoking armor plating and frying flesh.

I don't think he's getting back up from that.

I duck back behind the rock as the Retica cycles open and cools itself, and not a second too soon either. A gauss round screams right where my head was and blows a divot out of the ground behind me.

I give a low whistle. Never try to tell me those guys can't shoot.

At least we got their attention, which was the point after all, as I can hear dozens of ricochets off of the rock we're behind as the Marnucks realize we're the ones shooting back. Julun's voice comes over my headset as they make it behind their goalpoint.

"We've arrived Cross, get ready to move in three…two…one, go!"

I give Vi and Celica a second's head start before sprinting out myself, since my armor will do a better job of soaking up any shots that find a target than theirs will. Not sure that I have to worry though, since Mia and Julun are packing some serious heat.

Mia has her usual Raygun setup, but Julun hasa little extra for when we figured we would be assaulting the communications compound. As the three of us sprint towards their location a sudden high pitched whine starts up and a stream of blinding fire reaches towards where the Marnuck artillery nest is located. Said fire is coming from Julun's mass driver, a heavy weapon that she manhandles around like it weighs nothing, despite easily massing thirty-two kilograms.

The mass driver she's using is loaded with depleted uranium balls the size of bb's that are heated to a couple thousand degrees celsius and then launched by magnetic rails at almost one and a half kilometers per second. When it's ammunition makes contact with any solid surface the result is truly spectacular. Take the rock the Marnuck bombardiers were using as cover for instance.

A two second burst from Julun's weapon completely shatters the rock face, tears apart one of the operators and must have hit the cannon while a round was loaded into it, since the entire plateau goes up in a spectacular display of fireworks.

I grimly smile inside of my helmet. That should convince our pursuers to be a little more respectable.

No sooner do I think that than I feel a stunning impact on my lower back that makes my right leg go numb and I barely manage to push off the ground with my left that turns my fall into an awkward roll that brings me right next to my destination.

Celica and Vi reach out and haul me behind the rock before anything else tags me.

"Thanks guys," I manage to gasp out as I stand up. My leg's a little numb but feeling is already returning.

Julun glances over at me and says, "Have dent in ass-plate the size of thumb do you."

I scowl at her.

"Totally did not need to know that. Nice shooting by the way."

"You're welcome."

I give an annoyed glance at where several of the Marnucks are currently holed up and taking potshots at us. The one advantage to leaving your rear hanging out in the middle of a firefight is that some jerkoff with a sense of humor will peg you there instead of in the head.

"Ok you two time for the next transfer. You ready?"

"Ready to run Chief."

"Alright three…two…one…go!"

They get up and running while us other three ease out from cover, weapons raised only to find…a bunch of hidden Ganglion with no clear shot at them. I frown as I lower the Retic a fraction.

What the heck is this maneuver? It's almost like they're afraid of getting hit by-

My eyes widen as I hear the thrum of gravitic engines increasing in volume and scream out, "Hit the deck!".

I throw myself to the ground and see Celica and Vi already down there. I guess having better hearing than us noise challenged humans is a pretty big help.

My thoughts are interrupted by what sounds like a thousand angry Adseculas, with a background chorus of thunder to top things off. A massive wave of heat washes over us and red hot gravel lands all around us. I sneak a glance back once the noise is over and find the rock face completely melted, only it's base standing maybe a meter high where before it had stood two. I look up at the sky and see the retreating engine glows of _two_ Qmoevas.

Friggin dandy. Like we weren't already at a disadvantage, now the Ganglion have two Skells to mess around with. Not to mention all those Marnucks are starting to rise up out of their foxholes and ready their weapons.

Ok, time for a new strategy.

"Move guys, don't let them pin us down here!"

Suiting action to words I bodily lift up Vi and Celica and give them a push forward to where Mia and Julun just arrived. Covering each other isn't going to work too well with two Skells giving us constant harassment. If we try to focus down one of them the other will have a clear shot at burning us down, never mind all the Marnuck rifleman swarming about.

Then there's the fact that only Mia and Julun's weapons carry enough punch to knock those Skells out of the sky, which would make them easy targets for the rest of the marnuck sharpshooters hanging around here.

Talk about picking your poison.

Well when in doubt, attack.

We're still about one and a half kilometers out from our target, too far to just make a run for it, so we'll have to do something to force the Ganglion to back off, even if it's only for a minute…

I glance around at my team and feel a sudden spark of inspiration. I turn to Vi and fire off my orders.

"Vi, take everyone's frag grenades and set them up to seal the tunnel we're heading towards. We'll give you cover so just get there as fast as you can."

He doesn't look all that pleased at being given demolition duty, but too bad. Aside from me and Celica he's the fastest person we have, and if there are any Indigens hanging around the cave entrance he'll be able to deal with them quicker than Celica could.

And it's not like the Squad Leader can just up and leave his team. I turn towards everyone else and say, "Everyone focus your fire on the right side Qmoeva when it comes in for it's next run. Don't worry about the one on the left, I'll take care of it."

Mia frowns and says, "No offense Chief, but how the heck are you going to manage that?"

I smile.

"With a little creativity of course."

* * *

Well I said creativity, but it's more like a jury rigged desperation plan than it is a stroke of creative brilliance.

One neat aspect of my armor is that individual limb sections can be immobilized, usually to stabilize broken limbs or keep wounded soldiers from moving. I'm using these functions for a slightly different purpose now though.

I went ahead and froze my legs and torso, with only my arms free to move. Now I have a completely stable platform with no need to worry about any sudden jerks of movement that might throw off my aim.

And boy am I going to need every bit of aim assistance I can get. It's not going to help that I have about eight seconds to get used to the sensation of only being able to move my arms before the Qmoevas come in for another run either.

Good thing I'm a fast learner when it comes to this stuff. I breathe out my nervousness as I hear two sets of gravity engines come howling through the canyon and slowly let my mind go blank.

One small snag to this plan. It's entirely dependent on the Ganglion mechs entering my field of fire and staying there. The suit can be given voice or keypad commands to unlock, but it takes a few precious seconds to do so, seconds which I sure as Hell won't get.

First stroke of luck. One of the Qmoevas accelerates into the canyon straight at me, moving pretty quickly at almost fifteen-hundred km/h. The pilot's probably not too worried about hitting anything, just blasting the area around us until the ground troops can encircle us.

I'm about to change that.

Hopefully.

I slowly exhale, and raise my rifle. Time seems to slow by just a fraction as I line up the barrel with the blur that is my target…and then pull the trigger.

There's a brief flare of light and then the Qmoeva's straight dive suddenly turns into a haphazard tumble that the pilot barely manages to pull out of before smashing into the ground.

I curse under my breath and unlock my armor. I was hoping to hit one of the weapon pods on it's shoulders, which likely would have forced it out of the fight for a few minutes. Burning some of it's head sensors will only buy a few seconds until it's backups can be brought online.

The other three had better luck, with Mia managing to blow of one of it's legs after the pilot had desperately swerved to avoid Julun and Celica's volley which sent it into a violent spiral that'll take a minute to sort out.

Not that I should be complaining though. Managing to even hit such fast moving targets while being sniped at by ground troops speaks just as much to our luck as it does to our skill. I glance behind me and see that Vi already took off sprinting as soon as we opened fire.

"Smoke em' while they're still setting up!"

I suit action to words and chuck one of my grenades as far as I can towards where most of the Marnucks are setting up shop, while out of the corner of my eye I see Julun and Mia doing the same.

I say 'smoke' grenades but it's not just gas these things shoot out. There's minuscule bits of reflective metal laced throughout the mixture that mess with any electronics and do a good job of diffusing any laser weaponry.

I smile as I hear a chorus of frustrated roars reverberate throughout the canyon and several wildly aimed shots go flying over our heads. There's no wind either, so those clouds aren't dispersing anytime soon.

"Good work guys, let's get a move on towards that cave while they're still blind. Move out!"

We start sprinting towards the cave entrance which is only a short run of a kilometer away, while none of our Marnuck pursuer's shots even come close.

Look like a clean getaway.

No sooner do I think that than all of the sudden I hear several jubilant shouts and the sudden howl of a Skell class engine on full power. Despite myself I glance back and mutter a curse that would make Frye blush.

Guess I should have knocked on wood.

The Qmoeva pilot who's sensors I shot out must be a sharp cookie, because instead of waiting for his sensors to boot up he turned his main engine on our smokescreen and is using the thrust to blow away huge swaths of it, opening ragged holes that clearly expose us.

You don't need to aim a leafblower much.

All of a sudden those wild shots from before become _a lot_ closer than I would like. I turn back around and focus on running, placing myself as best I can between my teammates and the Marnuck soldiers. A few tense seconds pass and just when I think we'll make it unharmed Celica suddenly pitches forward onto the ground.

A round caught her in the leg breaking up her stride, but didn't punch through her suit. Those things are designed to stiffen when hit, which is massively painful but better than letting a bullet ricochet merrily through your innards. Regardless she isn't going to be running on that leg for a few minutes.

Barely breaking stride I scoop her up in my arms in an improvised princess carry and hunch over, trying to make as small a target as possible.

Despite the mortal danger and adrenaline coursing through my system, I can't help but wonder at how cool and heroic I must look running like this, carrying a girl in my arms through a hail of gunfire.

Sheesh, how male did that sound?

Testosterone fantasy aside, those rounds are starting to close in on me. I feel several sharp impacts on my back that thankfully don't throw me off balance, and I don't even try to run in a zig-zagging motion, just a flat out sprint towards my goal.

The Retic is actually helping out here, helping add an extra layer of protection by soaking up a lot of bullets that would have otherwise hit me with full force.

Forty meters to go.

Mia and Julun make it to the entrance and I raise Vi on my comm.

"Vi, blow it!"

"You're still-"

"I friggin know, do it anyway!"

Thankfully he doesn't raise any more objection after that and detonates the grenades, collapsing most of the entrance in a cascade of falling rock. At five meters to go I throw myself into a slide that barely clears the first falling boulder, and skid on my butt into the relative safety of the cavern. I breathe a sigh of relief right before something smashes into my helmet that knocks my head around and causes a ringing in my ears.

I wince and take a look behind me. Nothing but newly collapsed rock and dust.

"Cross, are you alright?!"

I look around me and see I'm still holding Celica in my arms, who in turn is looking at me with a scared expression on her face.

"Uh yah, I'm fine. Was just wondering what hit me there."

"That was this Lieutenant."

Vi holds out a Ganglion armor piercing round and I feel my eyes widen.

"That thing hit me in the _head?_ "

"Well not exactly," he says as he reaches over and taps a chuck of rock over a meter wide with a neat hole drilled right through it.

"It likely pierced through this and lost much of it's momentum before striking you."

I shakily exhale. Stuff like that makes me wonder if maybe I should take up a desk job in NLA. Putting aside my shock I turn back towards Celica and set her aside.

"How's the leg?"

She winces as she stands up but stamps the ground a few times and seems to pull it together.

"Painful but it won't affect my movement. I'm all set to go."

I breathe a sigh of relief that we're all intact and take a moment to unsling my Retica and check it's condition. I wince upon taking a closer look. I count at least seven significant dents in it and three craters where rounds actually punched through the casing and made a mess of it's innards. I'm not gonna be using it again anytime soon. I sling it over my back and turn towards everyone.

I don't have it in me to abandon a piece of equipment unless absolutely necessary. Not to mention Frye and Lin would lecture my ears off if they ever got wind of it.

"Ok team let's get a move on before the Ganglion decide we might be worth chasing after all. Me and Vi in front, Julun and Mia in the center, Celica covering the rear. We're in Indigen territory now, keep your eyes peeled. Move out!"

We slide into formation and head deeper into the caves.

I try not to imagine that we're being swallowed by them.

* * *

Mira's collection of caves and caverns is an extensive one, to vastly understate the scope of their existence. Intricate pathways of connected tunnels span the planet, some small and barely able to fit a human standing upright, some that can handle a whole squad of Skells with room to spare. Initially researchers thought that Mira was covered with much more expansive Oceans that eventually dried up, but not before creating these vast networks of underground highways.

That theory was pretty quickly abandoned though, since more than a few of the passageways appeared to have been made by burrowing creatures, rather than rivers of water. The discovery of giant Sabulas such as Atreides and Gesserith supported this theory, and it was also hypothesized that there was deliberate construction of these caves as well.

Some of the larger caverns and passageways were a little _too_ well conditioned for sentient use. Flat ground, squared walls and other signs of deliberate alteration seemed to suggest that the civilization that previously inhabited Mira used these passageways at will.

While none of this would mean much to us since we're trying to escape with our lives, not brush up on our geology knowledge, there's a very practical aspect to this information that might just save our hides.

When these caverns where made, either by Indigens or the previous inhabitants, quite a few tunnels were made that open up into the oceans surrounding Sylvalum. Either the Indigens wanted a drink or the sentients needed access to the outside quite often.

Doesn't really matter to me or my team, as long as we can find one of these existing routes.

And as long as we can avoid getting eaten by the plethora of insectoid Indigens that call these labyrinthine passageways their home.

* * *

There's a sudden rattling shriek above my head, and I tiredly fire a three-round-burst in it's direction without bothering to look up. The shriek is cut short with a surprised sounding gurgle, it's owner thumping to the ground with a dull splat.

I give a tired shake of my head. You'd think after the thirteenth or so attack, these Blattas would take a hint and stop trying to mess with us. Or at the very least stop announcing their ambush with a scream.

Taking the momentary lull to look behind me I see everyone else tiredly lowering their weapons. I frown inside my helmet.

We've been on the move for almost three hours now, and at least once every ten or so minutes we're ambushed by some enterprising Indigen that's decided we look like good eating. It's mostly just been Blattas and Adseculas that have gone after us, but these caverns can house Vivohasts and even Ictus. I'm fervently hoping we don't end up running into those things.

"How's everyone holding up?"

"Still in one piece Chief."

"No problems here Lieutenant."

"I'm still in good shape Cross. The leg's fine."

"No difficulties here."

While I respect their bravado, it's clear everyone is feeling the pinch. Heck, I had to practically force Vi away from the front of the squad, he was so exhausted. The physical aspect of things isn't so bad for Mia and I, since our Mims aren't going to tire anytime soon, but everyone else is looking haggard.

Vi and Julun are both breathing heavily, and definitely have slowed movements. Celica is holding up a bit better, but it's obvious that her leg is starting to get to a point where she can't just ignore the pain and soldier on.

Then there's the mental aspect of our predicament. First there was our hectic run-and-gun battle with the Ganglion where every second that went by without one of us getting shot seemed like a miracle, and now we've been hiking through these caves for hours, with sudden ambushes at regular intervals, forcing everyone to constantly stay alert.

That crap takes a toll on your mind, I don't care how tough you think you are. Even I'm starting to feel a little harried, and keeping cool under fire is practically my call to fame.

I make the decision to call for a break and start looking for a semi-defensible position where hopefully we can catch our breath. About five minutes later I find a small hole in the wall that leads to a cavern about seven meters across and four meters tall. Lucky break for us, nothing big seems to be living in it right now either.

"Ok guys time for a breather. In here, I'll take first watch."

Julun looks at me with concern on her face(I'm finally used to Prone facial expressions) and tentatively asks, "Are you sure? You have been in vanguard entire time."

"I appreciate the concern Julun but that's an order. Also no offense, but you look like you're about to fall over. Take a rest. We'll wait twenty minutes here then move out again."

There's no further argument as everyone tiredly files in and tries their best to get comfortable.

Vi winces as he settles down into the Wrothian meditation pose, while everyone else collapses heavily to the ground. I wait until I'm sure they're all relaxing as best they can before accessing the FrontierNav map. We lost the signal hours ago but the built in map function is still working just fine. I glance at where we are now and feel my brow furrow. While the GPS isn't working, the Comm can count steps and direction, using that info to give you it's best guess where you actually are.

There are two mapped exits to the tunnels we're currently in, but the actual network itself is still largely unexplored. We've mostly had to guess our way through here, and if our current location is accurate, we're only halfway to one of the exits. I grimace as I put my comm away and take another look at my team.

My frown deepens as I notice that everyone seems oddly subdued. Which is unusual considering what a riot of personalities we usually are. I wouldn't go so far as to say morale is low, but there seems to be a…resigned sort of feeling in the air. Almost as if no one actually believes we'll make it out of here in one piece, but doesn't want to broach the subject. I sigh as I try to think of a way to get everyone's minds off of the general crappiness of our predicament.

What would Elma normally do? Most of the time she would put on a brave face and soldier on right alongside us, not hesitating to put her life in just as much danger as ours.

While admirable, I don't think that's what we need right now. Not to mention I have no confidence in my ability to be as inspiring as Elma can. Heck, it's not even an issue of bravery. No one is even considering giving up, it's more along the lines of a fatalistic funk they're in. I rack my brains as I try to think of a way to lighten the mood but can't come up with anything. I click my tongue in irritation at my ineptitude and stare frustratedly at the ceiling. Hard to be upbeat when you're under who knows how many tons of rock…

Wait. Rock?

And we are in a Sylvalum cavern…

I grin as I turn around and look at Celica. Ok, let's give this a try.

"Seems just like Déjá Vu, doesn't it Celica?"

I try to put some levity into my voice, and apparently it works since everyone turns to look at me.

She frowns in confusion and asks, "Does it? When have we been in such a situation before?"

"Remember when you first became a BLADE? Being lost and surrounded on all sides in a Sylvalum cavern?"

A look of nostalgia appears on her face and she gives a crooked smile.

"Now that you mention it, I do recall such an event."

Julun looks up interestedly and asks, "The day you became a BLADE? I am not familiar with this story."

Mia grins and chimes in with, "I'll gladly field this one. You might never guess it by her appearance, but our darling little Qlurian here once wanted to join BLADE so that Rock wouldn't have to join the fight. After having a little chat with Commander Vandhamu he jokingly told her that completing a mission solo would guarantee her a spot. Guess what happened next?"

Vi has a look of surprise on his face as he joins the conversation.

"You attempted to do such a thing? And I thought the Lieutenant was crazy…"

Celica smiles and replies, "It certainly wasn't one of my proudest moments. And I never did end up finishing the mission on my own."

I snort at her words.

"She likes to insist that she never finished it solo, but let me know if anyone else has walked into a nest of Indigens without a single weapon, picked Selenean Sage of all things, and then lived to brag about it."

Julun looks at her in shock.

"I agree with Vi. I too always thought Cross was crazy one."

"Questions of my sanity aside, I couldn't help but parallel our current situation with that lovely little adventure."

Mia gives a wistful sigh.

"Yah well it'd be great if the rescue showed up now. You're stuck with us Chief, but I wouldn't mind one teensy bit if Rock showed up to save the day. He could also bring along Elma and Lin while he's at it."

Vi turns towards me with a smile on his face.

"I should have figured that you were part of the group that went to Celica's aid. You have a strange talent for playing the hero according to Mia."

"I was in more of a supporting role that time. Rock got to be the hero while Elma and Lin did most of the heavy lifting."

Celica gives a strangled laugh that turns into a cough before managing to say, "In Cross speak, that means he actually charged several Xiphias and Cantors head on, and generally made a commotion to cover for Rock and I's escape."

Mia grins and of course adds her own editorial.

"It wouldn't be one of the Chief's plans if it didn't have the potential for self-harm."

"One of these days I hope you'll stop implying that I'm a degenerate Mia."

"One of these days I hope you'll prove me wrong."

"Alright, alright enough of the reminiscing. Julun, take a look at Celica's leg and see if you can do anything for it. Mia, same goes for Vi. He's only moving his left arm normally, take a look at his right."

Vi and Celica look at me in surprise and I growl back at them, "Bet you thought I didn't notice huh? While I appreciate the bravery, keep silent about something that could endanger your lives again and I'll give you something real to complain about. That clear?"

They both have the decency to look somewhat ashamed of themselves and nod. Mia and Julun move over to help them and I smile at the change in atmosphere. Now there's a sense of purpose and efficiency, as opposed to the half-hearted funk from before.

I turn back to the entrance and marvel at the fact that I actually pulled being a leader off.

* * *

Sixteen minutes later I call for everyone to get ready to move out when Vi suddenly asks, "What about you Lieutenant? You haven't taken a single moment to rest yet."

"My bodies largely artificial, physical rest isn't something I need too much of."

"I'm referring to your mind Lieutenant. Not only have you been in the vanguard for most of the time, you were also keeping track of four others."

I'm about to insist that I'm fine when I notice the other three backing up Vi. I give an internal sigh at their team solidarity.

I'd end up wasting way more time arguing with them than if I just accept their concern. And what the heck? There's no harm in playing it safe.

"Ok, ok. Keep watch for three minutes and then we're moving. No arguments."

I see a few confused looks at my mention of three minutes but thankfully no one says anything.

Like I could explain anyway.

I take off my helmet and sit in a three fingered meditation pose, slowing my breathing.

This is just one more discipline in my repertoire that I have no idea where I learned it or how it even works. Some of these things are just ingrained habits or skills, and trying to forcefully make them work is pretty much counterproductive.

The closest comparison I have for how this works is limb movement.

Think about it.

As adults, actions such as walking or sitting are automatic, we don't stop to consider, 'can I actually walk' or, 'how do you sit'?

Try to walk down the street as you normally would. Except now focus as hard as you can on the actual _motion_ of walking. The play of muscle in your leg, of how you keep your balance, how your torso stays upright.

You might notice as soon as you start focusing on _how_ to walk, walking suddenly becomes much more difficult. Your leg's might tense up or not even move, balance becomes difficult, and your upper body might become rigidly painfully.

That's how I am. Fighting, meditating, whatever. As soon as I start to think about _how_ I'm managing these actions, I can't perform them nearly as well, if at all. One more mystery I just have to live with I guess.

What feels like three seconds later I open my eyes and glance at my timepiece. Three minutes exactly.

I do feel a bit better, so perhaps I'll listen to what they have to say a bit more closely next time. I smoothly stand up and put my helmet back on, lock down the seal and turn to everyone who's waiting at the entrance.

"Ok time for the home stretch people. Let's get to it."

* * *

I glance around nervously as we approach the caverns exit. Things have gone a little too well this past hour for my liking.

Not that it was a cakewalk by any means. For the first two hours after we left our rest area we were attacked more frequently than before. Makes sense in a sucky way, since we were probably waltzing right through the thickest parts of Indigen central. But eventually Vi and Celica we're able to hear the sound of waves and wind howling across the rim of an exposed crater, and we started trying our best to follow that. About an hour ago all our assailants just seemed to up and disappear without a trace.

I'd like to think that they finally decided we were too much trouble and left us be, but that's wishful thinking on my part. More likely is that there are bigger creatures in these parts that either force out or prey on smaller stuff. Now that our goal is actually in sight, no more than seventy meters away, I'm bracing extra hard, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Fan out guys, we're almost home free and I'd rather not screw up the endgame. Keep your eye's on the ceiling and sides. Let's move."

We slowly advance down the passageway, one cautious step at a time. I'm sincerely hoping nothing bad happens, everyone is near dead on their feet from exhaustion and we'd be at a hefty disadvantage. Twenty meters to go and I notice a decently sized alcove almost twelve meters tall and of unknown depth to my left. I raise my fist and everyone comes to a ragged halt. I signal for them to cover me and advance on the opening. I slowly peak around the corner and to my relief I only find a dark crimson colored outcropping about three meters in.

Wait a second. Crimson?

My eyes widen and I throw myself into a frantic side role that barely moves me beyond the sudden lunge of a giant Ictus that was camouflaged inside the alcove. I roll to my feet with my dual guns already trained on the approaching Ictus. At a glance this particular one only seems to be around five or six meters tall, small for it's species.

Lucky break for us, maybe he's the runt of the litter. My team lines up right beside and I shout, "Open fire!".

A deafening racket sounds throughout the tunnel and to my displeasure most of our gunfire just sparks right off it's hide, even the shots that hit it's joints do almost nothing.

Julun's mass driver is a different story however. With a shriek several rounds impact on the Indigens shell and cause a superheated explosion of bodily fluids and flesh. With a pained shriek it flinches away from the oncoming stream of fire…which abruptly stops as the weapon clacks open.

I mentally curse at our luck. The fight against the Ganglion and traipse through the cavenrs predictably left us with little in the way of spare ammunition, which leaves us a little under equipped to take on a high class predator like an Ictus.

"Mia, hit that thing where Julun wounded it, we'll run a distraction!"

"Got it Chief!"

I nod towards Vi and Celica, and we move in a rough triangle formation towards the creature, hoping to box it in. It turns towards and I notice it has a smoking hole in it's lower thorax about five centimeters deep where Julun hit it. If Mia can nail that with a concentrated burst from her Raygun we might still get out of here in one piece.

I start to advance on the thing when I notice it's acting odd, facing towards Mia with and odd hunched over posture. I open my mouth to tell Mia to watch out…a split second too late.

The Ictus suddenly bends forward and a pointed stinger shoots out with frightening speed from it's abdomen straight towards Mia. She manages to get the Raygun between her and the appendage, but it still breaks right through the weapon and knocks her to the ground, where she struggles to get to her feet, gasping for air.

That tail retracts with sudden speed, almost like a spring, and the Ictus menacingly hisses at us, open murder in it's eyes.

I feel a chill travel up my spine as realization hits me full force.

Oh. Oh _fuck me_ …

This things a _Tyrant._

No time to be safe, we need to kill this thing as quickly as possible.

"Cover me I'm moving in!"

Without waiting for a response I dart forward, hoping to take it by surprise with my speed. It doesn't even flinch and hops backwards several meters, leaving me awkwardly exposed with no place to hide. I clench my jaw as I see it bend forwards slightly, and prepare myself to dodge to the side on a split-seconds notice. And that's when I realized I've been suckered.

Instead of using it's tail it suddenly swings one of it's fore claws at me, connecting and sending me crashing into a wall. The hit didn't have much force behind it and I'm back on my feet in a matter of seconds, but in the meantime it's started advancing on my team.

Vi barely avoids a strike from it's tail, while Celica's gun suddenly cycles open, out of ammo. Julun and Mia, who's back on her feet, attempt to give the two of them some cover by firing at the Tyrants eyes but it hunkers behind one of it's claws and avoids the damage. I feel a rising sense of desperation and force myself to keep calm.

There has to be a way to beat this thing with what we've got left. That tail…something about the tail.

There's a click in my brain as I come up with a plan that's so absurd it might just work.

Hey, it worked in _Shrek_.

I sprint forward as fast as I can, hoping to get within a certain distance before it's tail can splatter me. It turns towards me and lowers it's head, and I suddenly drop into a slide not to dissimilar to those old montages of Baseball players back on Earth. It's tail blasts just above my head, with barely half a centimeter to spare.

 _Way_ too close for my liking.

Ignoring my own relief I latch my arms around the tail as it begins to retract, and theres a violent wrench that takes me all the way to it's back before it can react.

Looks like my hunch was right. Everytime it had struck out with it's tail it had retracted it just as fiercely, almost like a coil. I guess the muscles involved aren't used to doing things halfway. Taking advantage of the Tyrants momentary confusion, I spring off of it's abdomen and stab my blades deep into it's head through a gap in it's chitin.

It emits an enraged shriek instead of the pained one I was hoping for and starts spastically twisting and turning, trying to throw me off. I grunt and try to twist my blades deeper when all of the sudden it stops moving and there's a massive impact on my right arm that causes it to go numb. I twist my head around and see that it had used it's tail to try to impale me. Using my still good left arm I grab my Delta out of it's holster and use the last remaining rounds to try to disable it's tail.

The armor on the appendage isn't nearly as thick as the rest of it's body, and a few rounds slice through the compressed muscle, causing the Ictus's shriek to change from furious to in pain. The tail flops over, limp, and I give a savage grin inside my helmet. Doesn't look it'll be using that anytime soon.

I lose my grin pretty quickly as the Tyrant suddenly starts throwing itself against walls and jumping around with furious abandon. I drop my gun and desperately latch onto my Ralzes still embedded in it's back, trying to find a decent handhold. I'm gonna need wto arms for this and In frustration I look over at my still numb shoulder and feel my eyes widen.

The reason I can't feel my arm is because beyond my shoulder there's nothing but a ragged stump of synthetic flesh and machinery.

I've heard all sorts of stories from guys who served in the armed forces about comrades who ignored or didn't even notice lost limbs because they were so focused on something else, but said story always ended with them collapsing in shock once they actually noticed the body part was gone.

I must have a really bad attitude then, because once I see my arm is missing I don't go catatonic or lose my focus.

I get _mad_.

Snarling I pull myself up it's back with the one good arm and whip my right leg into a knee kick that strikes one of my embedded Ralzes directly on the hilt, driving it almost completely into the creatures back.

With a frenzied shriek of pain it jumps straight up, with me still spread out on it's back, and there's a tremendous impact that sends a wave of darkness through my head and all the strength leaves my body.

Urk…that one I felt.

Some distant, removed part of my brain remembers making a joke about a Tyrant rodeo a few weeks back.

The universe has a messed up sense of humor sometimes.

We fall the remaining six meters to the floor and I almost slide off it's back, but stubbornly fight my way back from the grey fuzz filling my head and hang on to my one sword with all I have. I hear someone's voice from far away and struggle to focus on it.

"Cross! Cross talk to us!"

Sounds like Celica…right…keep the team alive, that's the goal. My eye wanders over to the exit of the cave and I'm struck by how close it seems to be.

Some alertness creeps back into my brain as I realize that in it's frenzy the Tyrant moved so far down the cavern that it's barely two meters away from the caves opening. And from what my glazed over eyes can see it looks like a pretty steep drop off. I open a channel to my team and groggily say, "Everyone shoot the thing, force it over the edge of the cavern."

"But you're-"

"THAT'S A GODDAMN ORDER!"

Does it look like I have time to argue? Besides if I drop off of this thing it'll either go back to attacking the others and move away from the edge, or it'll just kill me and then go after the others anyway.

There's a brief lull where the Ictus seems to recover from it's jump into the ceiling, and then the sound of gunfire echoes through the cavern. It flinches away from the incoming fire and takes a step closer to the caves edge…when suddenly the gunfire stops and I distantly ear the sound of several dry _clicks_ as weapons run dry. The Ictus turns around and hisses in open hatred, beginning to take a step forward.

I refuse to let that happen. In one of the hardest things I've ever done to date, I use every last bit of strength I have to yank myself up onto the leftmost Ralzes and put my weight on it. With a surprised shriek the Tyrant twitches in the direction I'm pushing the blade…and falls over the edge. It emits a surprised cry and starts flailing wildly through the air. I give an exhausted sigh and hug the things back tightly, snuggling in deeper.

If I can land on this thing when we eventually hit the ground, it might take enough of the force so that I'm not instantly snapped in half upon landing.

I can hope at any rate…that said, how long are we gonna fall? It's been at least six seconds by-

* * *

"…enant…Lieutenant! Can you…ake up fool!"

I groggily open my eyes with what feels like a superhuman effort and see a blurry image of what looks like Vi's face.

"Quit yelling, I feel fine." I mumble.

I tiredly look to the left and see the Tyrant's corpse crushed like a, well...bug against the rocks in a huge splatter of blood and organs. Mission accomplished then. Vi looks at something over my head and yells, "He's conscious, call for extraction!"

I manage to turn my neck around and see three figures descending the cliff in a rush, and I breathe easier. Looks like against all odds we made it through. I try to stand up but can't move my body. Huh. Now that I think about it, I can't really feel anything below my collarbone. Must have cracked my spine against something then. I feel a sudden wave of exhaustion pass over me and my eyes start to close.

"Lieutenant! Stay conscious Lieutenant!"

"Hey Vi…something I gotta tell you."

"What is it? stay focused Lieutenant, help is on it's way."

"Provided I live through this…start calling me Cross dammit…"

My eyes roll up into my head and a wave of dizziness hits me full force.

Blackness.

* * *

I wake up from what feels like a really long, really boring dream and uninterestedly look around me. Must be the Mimeosome Repair Center. I look up to the right side corner to check the serial number of the pod I'm in.

Yup. Pod seven-A. I wonder if I should put a deposit down on this thing, I've used it so often.

"Hey Immortal man. Rise and shine!"

I glance through the pod's viewport and see the familiar figures of Elma and Lin smiling at me.

"Correct me if I'm wrong girls, but I'm getting the strangest sense of déjá vu right now."

Lin snorts and replies, "Which is entirely your own fault dummy. Do you make it a habit to wreck you Mim once every couple months?"

"You could always stage an intervention if you think it's unhealthy. Never mind that, how long was I out? Wait, scratch that, where's everyone else? Are they alright?"

Elma smiles reassuringly.

"Relax Cross your team is in one piece. And it's only been about twenty-six hours or so. You managed to get everyone home safe despite both the Ganglion and Mira working against you. You can be proud of that."

"Yay for me. What about the rest of the task force? Did any of them make it?"

Both Lin and Elma fall silent for a moment before Elma picks up the conversation again.

"Some made it out but…losses were extreme. Out of the almost ninety BLADEs participating in the assault twenty made it back to the city. The main infantry and Skell forces attacking Badr were wiped out to the last man."

I can only stare.

"ALL of them?! How the Hell did the Ganglion pull that off?"

Lin's face twists in irritation and she replies, "We're still trying to figure that out. Nothing showed up on FrontierNav prior to the attack, so we're still trying to determine if that was because of the jamming or something else."

"That 'something else' sounds rather ominous little sis."

"Your telling me big bro."

Elma regains some of her levity at our banter.

"Well we won't hold you hostage here any longer Cross. A technician will probably be along in a few minutes to decant you. You have some very anxious friends waiting outside to see you, I might add."

"Oh for crying out…they better not have been waiting for me this entire time."

"Only for about twelve of the twenty-six hours."

"Thank god for that. I hope they took a chance to actually rest, they got put through quite the wringer out there."

Lin snorts.

"Says the guy who had a broken spine, ripped off arm, crushed legs, fractured skull plate and a whole dictionary's worth of other injuries."

"What can I say? I'm built tough."

"Dense is the word I'd use. Catch yah later Cross."

"See you around kiddo."

She leaves my field of view and just leaves Elma behind.

"Something you need Elma?"

"Just passing along orders from HQ. As you can imagine they're pretty busy right now, so I'm playing messenger. They gave you and your team two days of mandatory downtime, but will need you ready for action after that. Also they went ahead and named the Tyrant you ran into. They were a little unsure of whether to bother naming it since you killed it off almost as soon as you found it, but eventually they went with 'Vlad the Impaler'. Charming name isn't it?"

"I think it fits. So how's your team doing since we're on the subject?"

She smiles mischievously.

"I gathered quite the mix of personalities, but they're still nowhere near the handful you and Lin were."

"I'll take a strange sense of pride in that."

"Hence why you demanded my full attention. I'll see you later Cross, take care of yourself."

"No promises."

"Figured I'd ask anyway."

She walks off and I settle back into the pod's hydrostatic fluid.

I hope they weren't kidding about the techie being along soon to let me out of here. I feel like some exotic animal being put on display.

* * *

I remind myself for what feels like the tenth time not to worry about Cross. Elma and Lin had reassured me that he was fine and in his usual high, if not whimsical, spirits.

That should put me at ease, but I'm still not used to how robust these Mimeosomes appear to be. Any ordinary being that had taken the injuries Cross suffered would have been long dead, and yet hardly a day later he' supposedly healed with no injuries.

Perhaps 'healed' is the wrong word.

I glance towards where Mia is showing Julun and Vi pictures of the original Los Angeles and sigh. It'd be easier if I could relax like they could, but I can't seem to compose myself enough to do so.

It had been a harrowing thing, getting back to NLA. With Cross's body slowly fading we had initially worried that he would die before help would arrive, but an NLA transport had been in the area and arrived within twenty minutes. What happened afterwards was something of a daze as exhaustion and anxiety finally caught up to me.

my next clearest memory was of Rock practically fainting in relief as I walked off the transport with everyone else, while Cross was rushed to the Repair Center. Rock had carried me to our quarters in the Industrial District where I had practically fainted on my bed and slept solidly for the next ten hours.

Once I woke up I had left a message for Rock who was at work and immediately met up with the others to wait at the Mim Repair Center for any news.

"Hey Celica try to relax a little would yah? They said the Chief's gonna be just fine, so he's gonna be just fine! You always said you wanted to see photos of my home, I just got ahold of them not too long ago! Believe it or not it was Yelv of all people who got them from a piece of the White Whale a few weeks back. Take a seat girl!"

I sigh and do as she says. Mia's right anyway. I'm not accomplishing anything useful by stressing needlessly. I sit next to the three of them and listen to Mia's explanation.

"And this right here is Griffith Park, my personal favorite. Kinda cliché, I know, going for the most well known and popular park and all. Or maybe you three wouldn't know actually. Never mind I said that then. So what do you think guys? Cool or what?"

She flips through several images of what she likes to call 'selfies' and a wave of nostalgia drags a smile out of me. The scenery reminds me very much of home, with it's vast forests interspersed with villages and the occasional city.

Vi and Julun also seem intrigued by Mia's commentary.

"It's strange, to see an entirely different planet home to a different people, and yet feel a sense of familiarity with it."

Julun lightly punches him on the arm and amusedly says, "That is what Prone like to call 'kinsmanship'. For one so clever, you can almost be as blockheaded as Cross."

I can't help but laugh at Julun's commentary.

"Julun, you said you spent most of your childhood underground correct? Doesn't this world and city seem, well, alien to you?"

Mia chimes in with, "Yah no kidding! If I'd spent most of my life growing up in enclosed spaces and was then suddenly thrust into this place I can't help but feel like I'd be suffering a mad case of agoraphobia."

Vi lightly chuckles and says, "Who's to say she is not mad?"

"Har har. Very funny Wrothian. But valid point nonetheless. When we first arrived at this world I was indeed apprehensive. But training and discipline helped, and now I barely notice."

I nod in understanding, but Mia then hesitatingly asks, "Er Julun? If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up with the Ganglion anyway? And what made you ditch em' when you had the chance?"

Julun simply shrugs.

"Had little choice. Prone children of poor families are offered choice. Either become warrior, become expendable labor, or become…I think closest human analogy is, 'Pleasure slave'? I chose to become warrior, and count myself lucky beyond description to have been under command of Captain Slovity. She inspired many of us to leave rotten Ganglion service. And now here I am."

I feel a bitter taste in my mouth at Julun's mention of 'pleasure slave'. After Rock and I's escape from the Ganglion we once had the misfortune to see what happens to those who resist and defy the Ganglion. I often wish I could forget what happened to the women being taken prisoner, it's not something that bears description. Needless to say I can understand Julun's choice.

Vi clasps her on the shoulder and Mia smiles.

"Well whatever happened in the past I can happily say that right now, I'm a very happy lady to have you on the team Julun. And I guarantee you the Chief feels the same way."

We all go silent for a moment, no doubt thinking the same thing. While we likely wouldn't say it to his face, on account of his snarkiness, there's no doubt in our minds that Cross is something along the lines of the binding force that holds the squad together. Not to say that I couldn't have been good friends with Julun or Vi had we never been in the same squad, but Cross's personality and quiet charisma brought us total strangers together faster than I would have ever believed.

His seemingly effortless ability to lead was the guiding force for us in the early weeks. He was never afraid to play the fool for our amusement, seemingly switching between professional and irreverent at the drop of a hat. Perhaps most impressive was that he never coddled or kept things from us. He encouraged us to play to our individual strengths and always answered any questions we might have had as completely as he could.

It wasn't until our recent mission to Sylvalum, however, that we finally realized just how much he cares about us not just as comrades, but as friends. The four of us were tired and slowly losing confidence in our odds of survival, until he reminded us that there was something here in NLA worth coming back to. Never mind that he somehow noticed the injuries Vi and I were hiding, all while serving as our vanguard during the hours of constant ambush.

I can't help but give a wry grin. For a man missing memories of most of his life he's quite the impressive talent.

Julun looks back towards the Mim center and says, "Speaking of cave-mad leader, should he not be out by now?"

Mia rolls her eyes.

"Knowing the Chief he probably got distracted talking to one of the Mim techs. Give the goof some time."

"I find it strange how the Lieutenant-er, I mean Cross, can so easily talk to total strangers. Has he always been able to do that?"

Mia turns a sly grin on him.

"Finally decided to start calling him by his name huh?"

He shrugs rather sheepishly.

"Well he asked right before passing out. I can't exactly refuse him now can I?"

"Fair enough. And yah, Elma and Lin said that when he first came to NLA he could hold a conversation with anyone no problem. The lack of knowledge about Earth media hurt him a bit, but apparently not so much that he couldn't communicate with anyone. And speaking of King Doofus here he comes now. Told you he would be talking it up with one of the guys who work here."

I look at the entrance to the center and sure enough he's animatedly talking to a bored looking employee of the Repair Center. I feel a sudden surge of relief go through my chest and exhale a breath I wasn't aware I was holding in. Certainly, I knew that he was in no danger, additionally both Elma and Lin had said he was fine…but as the Human saying goes, 'seeing is believing'.

The tech cuts Cross off and hands him something before turning around and heading back inside. An exasperated look appears on his face he turns around and sees us. Getting a goofy grin he starts across the street towards us and we rush towards him.

* * *

I smile as I see my team all in one piece and moving towards me in a rush. I'm a little surprised at how good it feels to see them, even though by my count we've only been apart thirty minutes or so of conscious time, and probably only a day of unconscious time. Well whatever. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

"Guess who's back from the dead guys!"

I'm kept from seeing the results of my little joke as Celica violently hugs me, knocking the wind out of me and shutting me right up.

"That is _not_ funny you insensitive fool."

I look around at the others for help but they just grin maliciously at me. I can hear Mia whisper to the others, "He kinda looks like a yelled at puppy don't yah think?"

Trying to gather the shreds of my dignity I awkwardly pat Celica on the back and say, "Um…I'm back?"

Mia rolls her eyes in disgust and says, "Let the idiot go Celica, he's never gonna be able to dig himself out of this one on his own."

Normally I'd snap something right back at Mia, but I think she may be right that I have no clue how to extricate myself from this unknown minefield I seem to have stepped into.

Finally letting go Celica steps back and looks at me with a pissed off look on her face.

" _Never_ do something like that again."

I sheepishly smile and reply, "Well…I'll try not to?"

"Well good enough I suppose."

She loses her annoyed look and finally smiles. I heave an inward sigh of relief and turn to everyone else.

"You guys weren't waiting too long were you?"

Julun shrugs.

"Couple hours. Perhaps less?"

"And that's a few hours too many. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you guys care but for crying out loud. You all still look dead on your feet. Go home and get some rest. HQ gave us two days downtime, so don't worry about any emergency calls or anything. I'll send a message out later and we'll meet up somewhere to talk. And preferably eat. You guys did a Hell of a job out there, so I'm buying."

That gets a few tired smiles from everyone.

Julun stretches and yawns.

"I will take you up on that offer. Glad to see you in one piece Cross, we will talk later."

"Count on it."

"Then I shall take my leave as well Lieuten-er…I mean Cross."

A massive smile crawls across my face.

"Finally got you to say it huh? And all it took was me getting the crap kicked out of me."

He shyly grins and says, "It will take some getting used to."

"I promise to respect your effort."

I clasp him on the shoulder with a real sense of camaraderie.

"Get some rest pal, you earned it."

He and Julun head off leaving only Celica and Mia behind. Mia pointedly turns away and casually whistles to herself, not so subtly implying that she has temporary deafness.

"So uh…I just realized I should stop saying 'uh' all the time. It breaks the image of a sardonic kidder I've built up over the past year."

She chuckles and teasingly says, "Imagine how speechless you'd be left if I told everyone all it took to subdue you was an angry look."

"Please don't. A guy has to have _some_ dignity among the few friends he's got."

"Well since you asked so nicely…"

I smile in return and say, "Shouldn't you be going somewhere right now? Like a soft bed or something along those lines? Heck, Rock's probably worried about you."

"You raise a valid point," she concedes tiredly, "I suppose I should try to rest now. But I'll have you know Rock was just as worried about you as he was me once we got back."

"Sheesh, he takes after you with all the worrying about everyone all the time."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

I sigh.

"Of course you would. Now quit wasting your time with me and go get some rest. I'll make it an order if I have to."

"If you insist, _lieutenant._ "

I shiver as she says that.

"Oof. Please don't call me that. It was bad enough hearing it from Vi, from you it's just plain creepy."

She lightly laughs and turns to leave before seemingly hesitating for a moment. There's an awkward pause and I decide to gather my courage before gently hugging her in return.

"I'll see you later today. All jokes aside, I do want you to try to relax a little. Not as a coworker or superior officer, but as a friend."

"No fair asking like that." she mutters in response.

I let her go and she heads off towards the I.D.

I give a small sigh of relief that everyone is finally seeming to calm down and turn back to Mia. I recoil slightly as she's looking at me with an intensity that could melt armor plating.

"Don't tell me you're mad about something as well?"

She explosively sighs.

"You're gonna turn my hair grey one of these days Chief. How can you be so damned-oh forget it, I can't even go into detail right now."

"Did you hit your head or something while I was gone?"

"No, but I certainly feel like smashing it against something now."

She blows out a breath and then smiles.

"Ok all better now. Yelling at you is strangely therapeutic Chief."

"All it costs is my own sanity. Seriously, what where you all up in arms about?"

"Ah don't worry about it. I can tell you later. Remind me later tonight to tell you about it."

"Well if you say so. Also real talk for a moment, how's everyone holding up? I trust you of all people to be frank with me."

"Oh, well shucks Chief, didn't know you rated me that highly."

I roll my eyes.

"We insult each other practically every other sentence Mia, I think that speaks to a pretty high level of friendship and trust."

"Heh, or we just hate each other's guts."

"Don't kill the mood."

"Right, right. But back to what you were asking, I think we're all in decent shape considering everything that happened. Your call to have everyone take a few hours off is just what the Doctor ordered."

I sigh in relief.

"Glad I did so then. That said how you holding up?"

She flexes and gives a massive smile.

"Mim body Chief. I got a little shut eye and now I'm back to one-hundred percent. No need to worry about little old Mia."

"Physically a least. The mental part always struck me as a little unstable."

She sticks out her tongue at me and then excitedly says, "Oh, Chief guess what? Yelv found a bunch new White Whale data pods, and guess what was on them? My old photo album of back home!"

I feel my eyes widen.

"Get out. You finally got them? Let me see!"

She maliciously grins and says, "Nuh uh Chief. We're looking at these as a team later tonight."

I scowl.

"Way to kill my excitement jerk. Wait. That was probably your plan all along wasn't it?"

"Heh heh, score one for Mia."

I resist the urge to snatch her her comm device away while she's busy gloating and instead decide to laugh alongside her.

If you can't beat them, join them.

* * *

The mood in the conference room was…subdued, to say the least.

A less charitable person might say it was depressed.

Chausson scowled as he looked over the final butchers bill. While he would never pretend to be a military man, he had spent enough time working with Vandham and Nagi to understand the basics of military strategy and supply.

And this was a hefty blow indeed.

Ten Skells either destroyed or captured by the enemy, as well as some sixty-three BLADEs KIA, with all of their equipment currently unretrievable. Jack had, in his usual colorful way, described it as an, 'unmitigated clusterfuck of a disaster'.

He laid down the report and looked around the table to see how the others were taking the news.

He would say Eleanora looked unaffected if it weren't for the rigid set to her mouth, as if she was clenching her jaw.

Vandham was much easier to read, having an enormous scowl on his face as he tabbed through page after page of data.

Nagi appeared to be keeping it together, but Chausson noted that his grip on the data pad he was looking at was rather unyielding.

Startled out of his observation by Vandham throwing aside his view screen and heaving an explosive sigh, Chausson tried to think of some solution to the bleak new situation they were in but couldn't come up with anything.

Vandham bitterly spoke up with, "Well, we royally screwed the pooch on that one. And a couple dozen BLADEs got to pay the price."

Eleanora replied with, "While I agree with you that we were overconfident of our ability to engage the Ganglion on even footing, now isn't the time to be despondent Commander. The rest of BLADE is apprehensive and waiting for a clear voice to give orders. Feeling sorry for and berating ourselves can come after."

Chausson gave an inaudible sigh. Eleanora was rarely the one who had to blow sunshine in their ears, and it was a good benchmark of how bad the situation was when she did.

Nagi looked up from his screen and said, "Well I think it's obvious we can't just land a force in Sylvalum and expect things to go well. With the Ganglion this prepared any troops would quickly find themselves surrounded with no backup."

Jack gives a thoughtful nod.

"So we're going with the island hopping strategy then?"

"I feel that's the safest and most effective strategy we have available to us right now. This way we can keep travel between the city and the frontline open and keep our forces largely safe from ambush."

Chausson couldn't help but give a smile at the name of their strategy. Back in World War II 'island hopping' had been the strategy used by the U.S forces to combat Japan.

After the Japanese had proven that taking over every island one at a time would prove to be an incredibly costly and bloody exercise, the U.S. forces had instead elected to invade strategically important islands, and leave the rest isolated or cut off from reinforcements.

Chausson was smiling because while their strategy was fundamentally similar to the one nearly a century ago, it had one key distinction.

While the age old U.S. forces had largely avoided the numerous enemy held islands, the Human and Ganglion presence on Mira was astoundingly small all things considered. The plan of invading only strategically placed islands was humorous because the only 'strategic' islands were the three places where the Ganglion had set up shop.

Rather than avoiding the enemy, NLA forces would be actively searching for them. The rest of the surrounding landmasses were far too numerous for the Ganglion to occupy given their numbers.

"Then I shall prepare to let the arms manufacturers and the citizenry know what will be required of them."

Staying quiet for a moment he then added, "This next battle has to be a win gentleman. Morale across the city is low after our last operation. This is the first time in months we've had such a large loss of personnel in one go. People need some good news."

Nagi confidently nods.

"We'll give it to them Maurice. Count on it."

His part of the discussion over Maurice stood to leave until Vandham suddenly interrupted with, "Hold on a minute, we still have something to talk about."

"And what would that be Jack?"

"It's about a certain BLADE who almost punched his ticket taking on an undiscovered Tyrant in order to get his team out of a Ganglion ambush. Who, I might add, not only succeeded but also brought back useful information regarding the circumstances of the attack _and_ mapped out a decent chunk of Sylvalum's underground passageways. It's high time we informed the kid of his past, people, and you should know it."

Chausson stiffened at Vandham's words, hoping yet again to avoid that particular topic. He gave an inward sigh at his cowardice in trying to avoid the issue and then faced towards the other three.

"And just what do you propose Jack? Are we to tell him the whole truth? Just part of it?"

"Easy. _All_ of it. And we let him tell whoever he trusts."

There's a short pause before Eleanora speaks up with, "Commander, we've stated our feelings on this matter _many_ times. I doubt we need a recap. But perhaps you can explain to me _why_ you think letting the whole city know about this matter is a _good_ idea?"

"Because I had a bit of a brainstorm the other day. You and Maurice here don't have anything to do with Cross's backstory. His whole situation is Nagi and myself's fault."

Nagi sits back for a moment before smiling.

"That's actually quite clever Jack."

"That's why I get paid the big bucks."

"Wait just a moment Jack. How in Earths name does putting the responsibility for what was done to him on _your_ shoulders make this easier?"

"Well no offense Maurice but most BLADEs wouldn't be all that likely to forgive you if they find out you had a hand in keeping this kind of a secret from our mascot. While there'll be some animosity and mistrust towards Nagi and myself, I'm willing to bet it won't be anything we can't handle."

Frowning Chausson nods. It was a sound, if somewhat morbid decision.

"And so why am I specifically excluded Commander? Don't trust me to play along with the rest of you?"

Vandham scowls and tersely replies, "Because more than a thousand BLADEs rely on you for everyday assistance and advice. If word gets out that you willingly took part in deceiving one of our top operatives, I bet quite a few of your everyday customers are going to be way more tense and wary around you. That's not something we can afford right now."

"Then _why_ are you so determined to go through with this? Why so fixated on taking a risk we need not even worry about?" she says very quietly but intensely.

Oddly enough it's Nagi who replies.

"Because it may very well become something we need to worry about. We've presented this argument to you before Eleanora. With so many wanting to know more about the boy's past it will eventually come to light that something is amiss. And what if one day Cross decides he wants to find out his history for himself? We have been _lucky_ , Eleanora. He has so far displayed very little drive to find out more about himself apart from some half-hearted investigations, but what if that changes one day? Do we directly lie to him? And what if that lie is exposed? Do we want him to view us enemies who have actively tried, and succeeded, to exploit his abilities?"

He stops to take a breath and says very quietly, "Or as allies who, despite the risk that the truth may bring about, were willing to believe in him and confide in him?"

Eleanora looks as if she bit into something sour.

"I'll concede that you have a point. Time isn't on our side. But I still maintain that we should wait until our fight with the Ganglion is over before telling him."

Nagi nods in understanding while Vandham violently scowls. All three of them then turned towards the Director General, expectation evident on their faces.

"Well Maurice?" Nagi said with an intense look on his face.

"You have the deciding vote here. What is your decision?"

Heaving a sigh Chausson averted his eyes towards the door for a few seconds before answering.

"…I agree with Nagi and Vandham. We should inform Cross of his past."

Eleanora doesn't quite manage to hide her shock, while Nagi and Vandham simultaneously smile.

Turning towards Eleanora he quietly said, "I understand your reservations, but I no longer feel it's right to keep something this important from the poor man. And if he takes the news badly? Well…at least we can deal with that _now_ , and not have to suddenly react later."

Still clearly not in agreement, Eleanora nonetheless nods her head and replies, "I agree to this decision and support it. I'll hope that my worries turn out to be baseless."

She meets their eyes one-by-one.

"Because if they aren't we've just created a very, _very_ dangerous enemy for ourselves."


	6. Chapter 6: Keys to the Car and the Past

Chapter 6: Keys to the Car and the Past

"In this chapter I restrict myself to exploring the nature of the amnesia which is reported between personality states in most people who are diagnosed with DID. Note that this is not an explicit diagnostic criterion, although such amnesia features strongly in the public view of DID, particularly in the form of the fugue-like conditions depicted in ﬁlms of the condition, such as The Three Faces of Eve (1957). Typically, when one personality state, or 'alter', takes over from another, they have no idea what happened just before. They report having lost time, and often will have no idea where they are or how they got there. However, this is not a universal feature of DID. It happens that with certain individuals with DID, one personality state can retrieve what happened when another was in control. In other cases we have what is described as 'co-consciousness' where one personality state can apparently monitor what is happening when another personality state is in control and, in certain circumstances, can take over the conversation."

― **John Morton** , **Trauma, Dissociation and Multiplicity: Working on Identity and Selves**

I blearily wake up and frown as the last vestiges of sleep fall away like a discarded towel, and think about what the Hell just happened to me.

I can normally sleep whenever I want to and not worry about dreaming at all. Been doing it for more than a year. But last night was…different.

I don't recall what it was that caused me to wake up in the middle of the night, my pulse racing and breath short, but it happened.

A nightmare I assume. Which is worrying to me in a way I'm a little uncomfortable to admit.

While it may not be the most glamorous or admirable thing to be proud of (being really great at killing things and all), I take justifiable pride in my combat skills and cool-headedness under pressure, more so than I ever like to admit. Having a clear and uncluttered mind is a very big part of maintaining those skills.

Nightmares, or mental instability, is a terrifying concept to me. An inescapable threat that you can't fight, that you sometimes can't even remember?

Everyone has a breaking point.

Okay granted, I didn't lose any sleep over it. One breathing exercise later I was calmed and resting, and the dream didn't occur the rest of the night. It's totally possible this was just a fluke, or some random happenstance that won't bother me again.

I decide to ignore it for now and see if it goes away on its own. Until then I merely do a calming exercise, punting my apprehension straight out of my mind. There's something exciting I have planned for my team today, and I'll be damned if I let a little baseless anxiety ruin that.

* * *

First step in my little plan? Track down Vandham.

During our little get together last night Mia had randomly brought up the topic of Skell licenses once I'd groused about how my Lailah just couldn't seem to catch a break. To my shock no one else on my team actually has a license, or at least a Skell of their own.

Sure, Mia had 'borrowed' a Skell a while back but I'm just going to overlook that.

Regardless, if we're going to be taking a bigger part in these offensives against the Ganglion, we're going to seriously need Skells available to us.

Hence my search for Vandham.

I'm walking towards BLADE tower when I spot him giving orders to a group of mechanics, who look more than a little harried.

I grin as I hear him giving orders in his usual relaxed drawl.

"Keep your priorities straight people, it ain't that difficult. Transports and the rest get second fiddle to the Skell frames. If we're short of materials then buy em' off the merchants. And if they don't have it post a request on the Mission Board. We're upping the reward for that stuff so the Prospectors and Curators are gonna be going nuts for those missions. We're at war here people, get your job _done_! Hop to people!"

They all scatter and head back towards the Hangars while I walk up behind Vandham.

"Scaring the children again Commander?"

He turns around and grins once he sees me.

"It is better to be feared than loved, for men love at their own inclination, but you can make them fear at yours."

I grin at the surprisingly scholarly quote from Vandham, who's usual words of choice are both short and irreverent.

"I seem to remember Machiavelli also saying it's best to be both feared _and_ loved."

"Yah well that's the trick now ain't it? Anyway what's up kiddo? Usually I'm the one asking for you, not the other way around."

"Yah I just realized a rather glaring oversight on my part. None of the people on my squad actually have Skell Licenses. I was hoping you could give us the all clear to earn them before this turns into a problem I want to kick myself over."

Vandham's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"Hold on a second. Didn't you get the details of this assignment when we first handed it off to you? Any member of the squad is eligible by default to take part in all of the responsibilities usually handled by top BLADEs. That includes a Skell License exam. Pretty sure we sent that bit of info along with your promotion to Lieutenant. Didn't you read it all?"

I have to try _very_ hard not to choke and instead say, "Guess not. Well now I know I guess. Thanks Commander, I'll stop by and chat with Eleanora about the tests."

"Ah don't worry about that. Just make sure you're team can pass the practical and we'll ignore the rest of that hazing stuff."

"Well no complaints here. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. We're on a tight schedule here anyway."

I expect him to end the conversation there but he frowns before asking, "Hey kid, you don't have anything planned for tomorrow morning do yah?"

Confused as to why he's asking instead of ordering I cautiously reply, "No not right now. Why do you ask? Isn't this the part where you exercise your authority and, you know, order me to attend a meeting?"

"Well this ain't exactly a mission briefing per se…well if you're not busy then stop by BLADE HQ at 0900. Me and Nagi have something to talk to you about."

I frown at that.

"Sounds rather ominous. Should I be worried?"

"Well, not really? Look just show up then would yah?"

I shrug. Sounds important no matter what it is, it'd probably be in my best interest to go.

"You're the boss man. I'll keep my schedule open."

He looks slightly uncomfortable for some alarming reason, but I keep my anxiety to myself.

"Great, see you then kiddo."

He lumbers off and I give a resigned shake of my head.

What the Hell did I just agree to?

* * *

"Ok guys it's time for you all to graduate from lowly foot soldiers to the real deal, the guys who pilot the big robots and get work done."

"Fine words from the guy who's had his machine wrecked for almost a month straight now."

"Like you're one to criticize. If I recall didn't you, as you so delicately put it, 'borrow' a Skell and then, after wrecking it a bunch of times, lose it all together?"

"Er…maybe?"

"Exactly. So cram it, Walters on his way."

The four of us minus Vi are standing off to the side of the A.D. Hangar waiting to undergo the Skell License test. Well it's actually just Mia, Celica and Julun that are lined up to take the exam.

Vi said he had something insanely important to take care and would meet us here if he could. He's never begged off from an assignment before, so while I was happy to cut him some slack, my curiosity over what he found so important is running high.

Whatever. I'll ask him later.

Walter saunters over and the grizzled veteran gives me a happy smile.

"So these three are the new graduates huh? Oh, and there's a familiar face."

He grins somewhat maliciously at Mia, who tries her best not to look ashamed.

"Uh, hi there Walter! So I'm uhh…here to actually get my license…."

She's practically whispering by the end of her sentence and I chuckle at her humbled attitude. Walter relents a little as well, saying, "Ok ok no need to get all worked up kid. You can make it up to me by putting your machine to good use once you earn it."

Perking up a little she smartly salutes and says, "Yes sir!"

Craning his neck Walter turns towards Julun and Celica.

"And how about you two? Ready to take on one of NLA's most taxing-yet awesome- responsibilities?"

They both give an affirmative nod. Walter smiles and then claps his hands.

"Alright then let's get to it! First things first, if you don't mind me asking ladies, how do you usually fight when you have boots on the ground?"

I grin as Walter slips into professor mode and take a moment to look around the hangar.

With focus back on fighting the Ganglion Skell production has soared through the roof, approaching and then surpassing the frantic last weeks in the search for the Lifehold core, when practically every resource had been put to military use.

I guess that's to be expected though, since the Hangar is roughly half again as large as it was before. Expansion of the Skell production facilities had been NLA's top priority once hostilities had simmered down, and the resulting facility was a marvel of both Human and Xeno technology.

Where they had once been only storage crates and the liquefied landing gel, there now stood a state-of-the-art factory dedicated to the creation of ever more advanced Mechs. I smile at the sight of both Ma-non, Orphean, Wrothian, Prone and Human technicians working side by side with practically no animosity.

Leave it to something as awesome as Skells to bring people together.

I tear my attention away and look back towards where my teammates are getting matched up with their training machines. Celica is being given a Formula while Mia a Mastema, but it's Julun's machine that draws my eye.

I walk over to Walter and say, "Where the heck did you get ahold of that? Spoils of war?"

He looks back towards me and grins.

"Believe it or not that's the machine you and your group did a number on back in Noctilum. Looks to be in pretty good shape doesn't she?"

I give an appreciative nod. The Galdr that we shot up a bit more than a week ago during the camp skirmish must have been brought back to the city, seeing as how Julun is just starting up it's systems now.

Walter continues on with, "It's actually good for us that you have someone on your squad who's at least somewhat familiar with Ganglion control schemes. We repaired her but weren't exactly sure who would do the test flights. One more problem solved."

"Happy to be of service. Especially when I don't have to really do anything."

Walter snorts and I take a closer look at how the test is proceeding. Celica and Mia have the same thing I had to go through, with an obstacle course designed to test just how proficient the pilot is with moving their machine.

Climbing walls, uneven surfaces, picking up and setting down objects of various size and weight…all manner of odd tasks with the sole purpose of forcing a potential pilot to know their machines limits inside and out.

I don't quite manage to hide a little smile of pride as I see Celica breeze through the trials right alongside Mia. She's nothing if not a quick study, only around a month of time spent with the simulators and she's making the real deal look easy.

I turn back towards Walter and ask, "So what are you going to do about Julun? Do we even have a benchmark for Ganglion Skells?"

He merely shrugs.

"Course we don't. But does she really look like she needs it?"

I look back towards Julun's Galdr and have to admit he has a point.

Like all Ganglion Skells the Galdr uses a dual thrust system: an anti-gravity engine and a smaller one that uses more conventional forms of thrust. I can only imagine that learning to simultaneously use the two systems is something of a nightmare.

Not that watching Julun would let you know any of that. Heck, she even looks like she's having fun, floating up to the ceiling, turning upside down and then doing lazy figure eights around two support columns.

I open a comm channel to her and say, "Now you're just showing off."

She replies with open happiness in her voice.

"Sorry Cross. But piloting is more fun that I remember. Only had limited chances to train with Skell before. Taking full advantage of opportunity now that it is here."

I snort as she puts the machine into it's cruise mode and points it's nose at the floor. Then, God help me, she starts spinning the Galdr like a dradle. I hear a few mechanics start whistling and applauding, as more and more people stop to watch.

I grin and reply, "Well enjoy to your hearts content. Try not to put a dent in the walls though, otherwise I think you'll disappoint your audience."

"Noted."

I chuckle and move to put my comm away, but hold off on that as it starts beeping to let me know I have a new message.

I read it and raise an eyebrow.

Opening up a channel to my team I say, "Sorry to bail on you guys, but our little boy wonder just sent me an urgent message saying he needs my help with something."

"Well then go help him out Chief! We're gonna start on the flying part of the test soon anyway, so you'll just be standing around doing nothing."

"I admire your boldness in telling your superior officer what to do."

"It's one of my many charms Chief."

"Well with that sage advice I'll take my leave. Catch you later, Celica, Julun."

I get two distracted acknowledgments and smile. Guess they must be focusing pretty hard right now.

"Sorry to bail Walter, but duty calls. Can you take care of the rest?"

He nods.

"Don't sweat it. I seriously doubt any of them are gonna mess up, I'll just hand em' the paperwork once they're done and be on my merry way."

"Appreciate it."

"Catch you later kid!"

I exit the hangar and start heading towards the teleport that'll take me to the Ma-non ship. Time to figure out what Vi is up to.

* * *

I try to keep my lunch down as I step off of the teleporter.

While being able to instantaneously travel from one spot to another is a pretty sweet trick, the actual transfer itself always feels like someone just gut punched me. I breathe out and head to the Port side of the ship.

If the Ma-non can use the teleporters without upchucking I sure as Hell should be able to.

I walk down to the second level of the ship and see a cleared out area where most of the Wrothians and Prone practice their combat skills. I sigh and hope that Vi isn't going to ask for some sort of sparring match, I'm really not in the mood right now.

To my surprise, and anxiety if we're being totally honest here, I spot Vi standing next to none other than Zo Ozuchi. I slow my walk and nervously wonder if I'd be better off just avoiding those two all together right now.

Too late. Ozuchi spots me and confidently booms, "Ah Cross! You've arrived sooner than expected!"

I sigh at his words. So much for sneaking away.

I finish the stroll over and try not to wince at the expectation of incoming injury. Pasting on a nervous smile I say, "Long time no see. How you've been doing lately?"

He grins happily and says, "The best I have been feeling in quite a number of years! Seeing my people freed from the yoke of the Ganglion, the success of the Battle Gauntlet, seeing my student grow under the tutelage of the one who bested me…I have never had so much to do before! Hahaha!"

I notice Vi's tail slightly wrap around his legs at Ozuchi's mention of him growing. I can't help but grin a little myself.

It's hard not to get swept up along with Ozuchi's happiness, the guy is practically leaking exuberance.

"That all aside, the two of us have a favor to ask of you Cross."

Uh oh. If past experience is anything to judge by, this is probably the part where they request a duel with me.

"I would like you to judge a match between me and my pupil. I know just how skilled you are, and cannot think of anyone else present in this city more qualified to referee our bout."

Oh. Well ok then.

I shrug and say, "Happy to help. But are you on a timetable or something Vi? You're missing the Skell test right now."

He looks somewhat embarrassed but replies, "Actually, this is a form of exam. Although I do apologize for the odd timing."

I look questioningly at Ozuchi who grins excitedly.

"Vi Leand will duel me for the privilege of piloting his own Calador. Should he win, he will earn the right to pilot. And not just any machine. He will be the operator of Ozuchi Calador."

Vi's head snaps around so fast I'm surprised he didn't break his neck. Guess Ozuchi left out that little detail until now.

"Master? I'm honored beyond words that you would offer up your machine like that, but am I honestly so-"

"You seem quite certain that you will win in the first place, don't you?"

Vi falls silent with a chastised look on his face.

Losing his stern face Ozuchi gently smiles and adds, "That is good though. Confidence is always a fine thing to have. And I have caught up with old friends in this city, who have had nothing but praise for you ever since joining Cross's group. In fact, I'm quite interested to hear what my rival has to say about you himself!"

He stares at me and Vi tries his hardest not to look apprehensive. I fight down the temptation to mess around with him a little and instead say, "Well I _did_ almost have to die before he would relax enough to start calling me by my name instead of 'Lieutenant'…but he's his masters student alright. And believe you me, I'm happy that I get to call him a friend."

Vi looks like he's about to pass out from embarrassment while Ozuchi gives a satisfied smile.

"I am glad to hear that my pupil has not only advanced his skill, but also his spirit."

Suddenly clapping his hands he stands tall, speaking in a commanding tone.

"Come Vi Leand, show me the fruits of your labor!"

Vi gives me a glance and I flash a smile that is halfway between encouraging and smug. Boy am I happy that it's not me about to walk into that meat grinder.

Straightening his spine Vi takes a deep breath and follows Ozuchi out to the middle of the floor. I take up position about five meters away from the two of them and take a deep breath.

"Ok here's the rules. No weapons. Everything else goes. So uh…begin?"

Wow. Great sports-commentator I'll never friggin' be.

Regardless of my less than stellar commentary, they both begin their match. Ozuchi and Vi both assume the standard Wrothian ready stance, neither moving towards the other.

After a few seconds of staring, they both start to circle each other in a cautious loop, clearly waiting for the other to make the first move.

I take this moment of relative calm to look over the two fighters and try to gauge their odds.

Vi has only gotten better these past few weeks, slowly gaining an appreciation for teamwork and patience. While I wouldn't say his actual combat skills have improved much, that hardly matters since his mental fortitude is much stronger than it once was.

I glance at Ozuchi and, well…he's still Zo Ozuchi.

All modesty aside, he's one of only three people on the entire planet that if I suddenly had to fight to the death, no rules, I can't say with any confidence that I would walk away victorious.

The other two being Elma and more recently, that Milsaadi Bitch from Oblivia.

While Elma may not be quite as martially skilled as the other two, it's not like she's a pushover. What she does have over the other two is almost a year of fighting alongside me, learning how I think and act. That singular advantage makes up for the other two's advantages.

My train of thought is interrupted as Vi suddenly pushes off the floor and aims a crescent kick at Ozuchi's head. Raising an open palm in front of Vi's kick he slows it's momentum enough so that he's merely pushed to the side instead of knocked flat.

Taking advantage of Vi's momentary balance issues Ozuchi kneels and aims a side kick at Vi's feet, obviously hoping to topple him.

Vi is a step ahead of him though, and had used his one good leg to push off of the floor into a slightly awkward backflip, tearing his limb out of Ozuchi's grip.

He lands sprightly on his feet but Ozuchi is already in his face, starting his trademark one-two fake out combo.

I wince and feel for Vi. Ozuchi pulled that maneuver on me during our match and it's a certified nightmare to deal with. What he does is a succession of two punches, the first one either faster or slower than the following hit, which merrily screws with your timing.

It's a classic boxing trick, effective but nothing Vi or anybody with a decent grasp of infighting couldn't handle.

But that's not the hard part. What really sucks is that Ozuchi keeps altering the speed of every series of punches, the angle, the type of hit, and if he's feeling generous he'll mix in a few kicks as well.

It doesn't help matters that his 'various speeds' mostly consist of fast and ridiculously fast, making it damn near impossible to do anything but defend.

I gotta give credit to Vi though, he's not backing off but trying his damnedest to fight Ozuchi head on.

I can't help but give a small grin as I think back to how I reacted to Ozuchi's milieu of blunt force trauma. One exchange of blows and I threw myself into a back roll to get the hell out of there.

Regardless, Vi is still wildly blocking all of Ozuchi's attacks as best he can. Kudos to the guy, but there's only one way this is going to end.

Sure enough, Vi is a hair late on blocking a sudden palm thrust that smashes him in the solar plexus, which leaves too stunned to block Ozuchi's shoulder throw that slams him to the ground.

I raise my hand and say, "Victory goes to the feline Bruce Lee!"

Ozuchi looks at me questioningly and I merely shrug.

"Earth reference."

Turning his attention back to his pupil he helps him up, although Vi looks slightly despondent. Well, losing _does_ kinda suck.

Ozuchi takes a step back and examines Vi intensely for a moment before smiling.

"That was quite the improvement over our past sparring matches! Very well done my pupil. You pass!"

Vi looks like he was just told he can fly by flapping his arms.

"Err, Master? Wasn't I supposed to actually win before-"

"Yes yes, that was what I had originally decided. But after hearing Cross's words and seeing you fight I changed my mind."

"Would you forgive me if I asked why you did so?"

"Because you will put my Skell to far better use than I currently can. I seldom, if ever, take her into actual combat. My Calador will aid you in keeping your newfound brothers and sisters in arms safe."

Vi deeply bows his head.

"You honor me Master. I promise to use Ozuchi Calador to her utmost potential."

Ozuchi grins happily.

"Not Ozuchi Calador. _Leand_ Calador."

I thought Vi looked shocked before, but now I'm of half a mind to call for a doctor in case his heart gives out.

And I'm sure as Hell not giving mouth-to-mouth. Those canines look _sharp._

Vi still looks bewildered so Ozuchi turns to me and says, "I offer you my thanks as well Cross. I owe you much for taking my student under your wing and improving his skills."

I smile and hold out my hand.

"Friends for friends right? Besides he's saved our collective bacon plenty of times, so I really should be the one thanking _you._ "

"Such humility, It's so easy to forget that you have fought and beaten almost every fighter on this planet when you act so humble. I highly anticipate our rematch!"

I clench my cheeks once he mentions a rematch.

All four of them.

To my relief he simply clasps my hand and says, "Until then friend. Tides of fortune be with you."

He walks off and leaves me with a still recuperating Vi. Recovering his sense a bit he turns towards me somewhat awkwardly and says, "So…I missed the License Test I understand? My apologies for dragging you away to help with this Cross."

I snort. Typical Vi right there.

"Don't worry about it pal, I was mostly just there as moral support. If we leave now we can probably catch the ladies as their leaving. Perfect time to congratulate them on their success would't you say?"

He smiles sheepishly and replies, "Julun and Mia will probably find a way to heckle me regardless."

"They absolutely will, but that's no excuse not to give them the opportunity. It's your solemn duty as their friend to give them a reason to make fun of you. Follow my example if you will."

He chuckles at that.

"Perhaps not to the extent you take it Cross."

I grin at his joke.

"Looks like your back to normal."

He nods and goes quiet for a moment before turning to me with a serious look on his face.

"Cross, I appreciate-"

"Look, if you're going to say something incredibly sappy, please save it. I'm awful at handling praise, and that's coming from a guy who's friends with Ackwar. Let's just leave it at what friends do for friends, okay?"

He looks at me for a second before laughing.

"Such shyness around sentimentality! How in Wroth's name do you ever expect to win Celica's heart if you cannot even express yourself to friends?"

I growl at him.

"I get enough scathing looks and comments from Mia about this, don't add yourself to the list _amigo_."

He merely chuckles.

"In all seriousness Cross, why don't you formalize some manner of relationship with her? And don't try to tell me you haven't noticed her attraction to you as well."

I'm silent for a moment before replying, "Look, having a romantic partner in the same squad is asking for all kinds of trouble. It promotes jealousy and feelings of exclusivity. How is that good for any squad?"

Vi merely gives me a smug grin.

"Everyone else in the squad wishes for you to be together, to my understanding Mia has actively been trying to bring you two together for some time now. And there are a number of squads throughout NLA that turn a blind eye to romantic liaisons between members. There, I just allayed your most prominent fears. Any more excuses?"

I'm quiet for a moment before giving a small sigh.

"No, and I was mostly just using those as a pretense. Look it's not as simple as that. I just-"

I cut off my sentence with an annoyed shake of my head.

"Look, you know about my memory issues right?"

He nods.

"The real reason I can't pull the trigger is because, well…Christ, I don't even know how to put this into words. Summed up, I guess I'm just scared to."

He stares at me blankly.

"You're 'scared' to?"

"Pretty much, yah."

"You have the opportunity to fall in love with a beautiful woman who loves you back, during a war that one day might claim one of your lives, and you don't want to proceed because you're 'scared'…you'll forgive me saying that that makes no sense whatsoever Cross."

"Well no shit genius, how'd you figure that out?" I snap back.

I immediately regret losing my temper and force myself to calm down. This particular facet of my amnesia has always been a sore spot for me.

"Sorry I snapped like that, but it's not an emotion that necessarily makes sense…I guess the best way for me to describe it is a fear of taking action and then, well…not being _good_ enough. Say I ask her out and she accepts. What then? I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to _do_. Do I just act like I alway have towards her? Is there some sort of expectation that I have to fulfill? I have _nothing_ to go on. Nothing but people who _aren't_ me giving advice and encouragement along the lines of, 'you'll know what to do' or some other bullshit that doesn't help one goddamn bit-"

I snap my jaw shut as I realize my voice is rising and my heart is beating a little faster. Way to go jackass, just lay into a guy who was genuinely trying to help you…

I regretfully look at Vi and see him silently staring at his feet, and I feel like the worlds biggest asshole.

To my surprise he suddenly looks at me with a calm smile on his face and comfortingly says, "Not knowing how to interact with the fairer sex is something all males, no matter the species, deal with, I can promise you that. And you forget Cross, I have come to know Celica quite well these past few weeks myself. Do you honestly think she is so cruel and averse to understanding that she will reject you should you make, in your words, a 'mistake'? The only person I know as compassionate and selfless as her is you, Cross."

I give an inward sigh and wonder, not for the first time, what good deed I performed in the past that gave me such amazing friends. I guess telling him the truth is the only way to convey what my real worry is.

"I know Vi, I know. And that's my _real_ worry. If we do become something, well, _more_ , what if I…if I…"

I grit my teeth. Say it, coward.

"What if I lose everything again? What if one day I wake up and don't even _recognize_ her or anyone else? Can I ask her to potentially go through that?"

Vi looks confused for a moment before his eyes widen.

"That can happen?"

I give a jerky nod.

"They examined my MIM and couldn't find anything wrong with it, and the Lifehold is still being repaired, so they can't directly check my consciousness. If it happened once, it can happen again, anytime."

I give a deep breath and run through one of my mental disciplines, trying to keep it together.

Vi is silent for a long moment before he wordlessly clasps my shoulder.

"I now see why you are so hesitant to do anything, and yet…I still think you should try to take advantage of this happiness while you can. What would be better? To always be afraid of consequences that might never come about, or to seize happiness while you can, and rely on ones who care about you to help?"

I think about what he just said and slowly reply, "I'll think about it…what you're saying sounds right but…I don't know, I need a little more time to think about this."

He smiles widely.

"Make the attempt Cross, you might find yourself surprised at what happens."

"Yah, surprised. I think that surmises today pretty well."

We walk along in silence for a few more moments before I mumble out, "Thanks for listening Vi, I appreciate it. The advice wasn't too badly delivered either."

He snorts.

"Again with the sentimentality difficulties."

"Go easy on me, I'm sensitive."

* * *

Eventually we make our way back to the Hangar to be greeted by our three very excited teammates.

"Hehe, guess who's got the real deal now Chief! No more steal-er, borrowing Skells for Mia!"

I roll my eyes.

"I'm kinda shocked that you admit so casually to theft of military equipment, but hey! More power to you."

Julun and Celica laugh, obviously in high spirits. I turn towards Walter who's shaking his head.

"I hope they didn't give you too much grief."

He grins in reply.

"You kidding me? Those three aced the test and made it look easy. I'm wondering why I even had to bother showing up."

He shakes his head and waves as he walks back to the repair bay.

I turn around to see Mia and Julun pestering Vi about what he was up to, while he tries to simultaneously answer them both.

"It's rather adorable how he gets pushed around by them, don't you think?"

I glance to my right and see Celica smiling up at me. I can't help but grin in reply and say, "He never said anything about having siblings, I think those two make good sisters for him. Just the right amount of overbearing, pushy, and loving."

She chuckles and seeing her laugh causes me to impulsively pull her into a hug.

"Huh? Umm…Cross? What are you doing?"

I frown a little. What exactly _am_ I doing? That was a weirdly spontaneous, even for me.

"Uhh…no reason."

Which wasn't even the question, but my minds elsewhere right now.

I suddenly feel her arms wrap around me in turn and her body shake as if in laughter.

"No reason? Is that your excuse?"

"That's not my excuse, that's my reason. To not have a reason. Congrats on passing the test by the way. I think I'm just gonna stop talking now."

I can really feel Celica trying not laugh out loud now and give a self-deprecating shake of my head.

Casanova would be turning in his grave right now.

I take a deep breath and let it out. I immediately feel myself relaxing a bit as I inhale Celica's scent. I dunno if it's something natural to Qlurians or a kind of shampoo, but she always seems to have this faint scent of lavender and vanilla around her. Maybe that's why my brain always seems to turn itself off around her.

She steps away from me after a moment and looks up with concern on her face.

"Are you alright Cross? You seem oddly…subdued."

Either my emotions are pretty transparent as of now or she's just used to reading me.

Probably both.

I give a small sigh and say, "Yah, my minds all over the place today. I'll be over it by tomorrow. Hopefully."

"Well if you say so, _Lieutenant._ "

"It's not nice to tease."

We both share a chuckle before I see the other three staring not so subtly at us. I arch an eyebrow.

"Enjoying the show are we?"

Mia grins.

"Well now that you mention it, yah, we kinda are."

I roll my eyes and see Vi give me a slow wink. Ok ok, I can take a hint dude. I'll give this some real thought.

Julun suddenly turns to Vi with an amused look on her face.

"So Wrothian, everyone now has license but you."

"Not totally correct julun. The Wrothians aren't necessarily bound by NLA's command structure, so he doesn't technically need a license, even though he's on the squad."

Julun looks at me with open shock on her face.

"That hardly fair!"

Vi clears his throat and says, "Actually Cross, she raises something of a vilid point, despite her usual less than cordial way of presenting it."

Which earns him a smack on the arm, but he presses on regardless.

"I would feel odd if I was the only one who hadn't undergone the same test everyone else had. If it's not any trouble, I would like to take the test as well."

I shrug.

"Fine by me, but shouldn't you take the test with your Calador? I dunno if it's kept at these hangars."

"Is it giant gold machine?"

I look at Julun with surprise.

"Yah it is actually. How did you know that?"

"It flew in about an hour ago, a Wrothian dismounted and talked to Walter for moment before leaving."

She shrugs.

"Lucky guess you could say."

I shake my head at Zo Ozuchi's planning and simply state, "Well if you want to take the test, sounds like everything is ready for you pal."

He nods assuredly.

"I shall begin then. I will see you all at a later date then."

We all stare at him until he worriedly says, "Did I say something wrong?"

Mia sighs and says, "You don't think we were just gonna wander off and leave you here all by your lonesome were you?"

"But you have already spent much of the day-"

Celica gives a tired sigh.

"We're teammates Vi. Or maybe friends would be a more appropriate word. And friends stick around to offer helpful, distracting advice to other friends."

I snort at her last sentence.

"Well there you have it Vi. You're going to have a very vocal and critical audience watching your performance, so you'd better step it up."

"I'm truly lucky, aren't I?" He says, completely deadpan.

* * *

A few hours later once the sun is down and Mira's moons are shining brightly in the sky Vi finishes up his test and is awarded with his slightly pointless, but still well earned, pilot's license. I yawn as Mia and Celica lead the way to Armory Alley, and idly reflect that it never seems to truly be night on Mira.

Frye, Doug and all the other war veterans told me stories of how dark it could sometimes get on Earth. So black that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. Mira doesn't have that problem.

With all five of it's moons constantly rotating through the sky at distances much closer than Earth's moon, the light reflected off of them ensures that Mira is never truly without illumination. Even a heavily clouded night doesn't impair vision too much.

More than a few of Mira's new residents at first found it difficult to sleep at night with the constant brightness, and window blinds sold out within hours.

"Hmm…what are you gonna get Celica? I'll probably have to settle for the first gen models considering my…shaky financial standing."

"Likely the same for me, While not quite as free with my money as you are, I haven't taken nearly as many jobs as you have."

"What's the point of money, if not to spend! You make a valid point though girlfriend…man, hindsight is 20/20."

I chortle at their banter. After we all grabbed a bite to eat at the _Blue Pocket_ Mia brought up a rather critical oversight that we had all stupidly forgotten.

Mia and Celica don't own Skells of their own.

While Skell production has ramped up big time, it's still predicted that about another six months will pass before mass produced Urbans and Infernos will be available at extremely cheap prices to the vast majority of BLADEs.

Until then they'll have to remain a scarce and expensive commodity.

Which is why I have a little surprise in store for my subordinates.

"So what variants are you two thinking of getting? Walter's pretty good at matching you up to the craft you'll excel at."

"Yah, I'm pretty sure the Mastema is where I'm at Chief. And Celica seemed right at home with the Formula."

Which totally makes sense. The Mastema is basically a mobile gun turret, with heavy armor and a highly advanced targeting array that excels in precision shooting and bombardments. It's pretty well suited for Mia who usually backs us up with well aimed Raygun bursts. Same goes for Celica.

The Formula is easily the fastest of all currently produced Skells. While the Urban is the easiest and most balanced machine being created, due to a nice mix of mobility and durability, the Formula eschews most armor in favor of maximum flexibility and maneuverability.

Again, fitting Celica's style very well. On the ground she prefers to take advantage of her small stature and speed to outpace opponents, and I can respectfully attest to it's lethality. She'll be right at home with the Formula.

And now for my little party favor…

I step up behind them and say, "You sure you can't afford the second gens?"

They both look at me like I just spouted another head.

"You kidding me Chief? Those puppies run a few million at the _cheapest._ I'm gonna be paying this girl off over a few years as it is anyway, ain't no way I can buy the high end stuff."

"Huh. That's weird. I don't recall ever saying it was you who was gonna be paying."

She gives me a perplexed look until I brush her aside and start entering my account information. Her eyes widen and she knocks my hand aside.

"Nooooope, not happening Chief."

"Odd. You seem to be insinuating that your life isn't worth a little bit of money."

"C'mon Chief don't give me that! A couple hundred thousand credits isn't, 'a little bit of money', it's a freaking lot!"

"What's the point of money, if not to spend it? Funny, I recall someone else saying that not too long ago."

I turn and face Celica as Mia flounders, trying to think of another argument.

"Well Celica? What are your thoughts?"

She gives an adamant shake of her head.

"I agree with Mia. It's not right of us to take advantage of your hospitality like that, even if you mean well by it."

I simply shrug.

"Well I guess you'll just have to live with being wrong then, because there's no way in Hell I'm letting anyone on my team go out there with subpar equipment if I can help it. Also, Mia? It's not a couple hundred thousand I'm spending, it's a couple million."

Mia makes a noise like she forgot how to breathe, and Celica looks as if she can't believe what she's hearing. I take this opportunity to finish up the order and have the paperwork be sent to their respective comms.

I stretch my back and smile contentedly before breaking into a laugh at their terrified expressions.

Ok, it was worth spending 5,260,000 credits, if only to see the look of abject horror on their faces at what I just did.

Celica recovers first and shouts, "Cross! Rescind that transaction _now_."

I raise my hands peaceably and reply, "No can do. My decision is final. And it's not like I couldn't afford it."

Mia practically shouts, "How on Earth could you merely _afford_ something that expensive?! What, are you sitting on some kind of fortune or something?!"

"Well sort of? One moment…" I check my finances real quick and nod.

"Yup, even after that buy I still have twenty-seven mil left over in the bank. So relax before your heart gives out."

My words seem to have the opposite effect as Mia suddenly covers her face with her hands.

"Chief? How…uhh…how exactly did you earn that much money in just about a year?"

I think about it a moment then shrug.

"Doing a little bit of everything really. In between my finders fee for all the Data Probe installations, missions straight from HQ, compensation for recovered tech, as well as the random missions and stuff scattered throughout, it all kinda added up over time."

Mia sighs and turns to Celica.

"Do NOT let this one go. He's wealthy"

I see Celica slightly blush out of the corner of my eye and decide to move the conversation in a different direction.

"So there we have it! Everyone's happy and all armored up. All in a days work."

"Hey Chief? Just, well…thanks I guess. For always looking out for us."

I see Celica about to speak up as well and I quickly interject with, "Hey c'mon now, you know I'm just about as bad as Ackwar with the thanks and everything. Just thank me by coming back alive."

They both give resigned sighs and I don't quite manage to hold in a chuckle at their synchronized exhalation. I glance at my timepiece and see that it's almost 2230. And I have that meeting tomorrow with the brass.

"Well I think we've accomplished quite a bit today, ready to call it? I have a meeting with HQ tomorrow at 0900 so feel free to spend the morning how you want to. Just a suggestion, but you might want to give a customized paint job to your Skell. I can't be seen with a bunch of people still rocking the stock colors, that'd just be way too embarrassing?"

I smirk at the excited gleam that enters Mia's eyes.

"Well now that you mention it Chief…yah I got something lined up all right."

"Well then I shall bid you fair ladies a fond farewell, and have sweet dreams."

Celica smiles and says, "Spending a lot of time with L?"

"That obvious huh?"

"Extremely so. The Cross I'm familiar with is much more shy around woman than he pretends to be."

I scowl at her.

"Oh sure, bring up the truth."

* * *

I roll over miserably in my bed and glance at the time 0705. Still two hours to go.

I flip onto my back and give a depressed sigh as I look at the ceiling. Turns out last night I had another, I'm assuming, nightmare.

So much for it being a one time thing.

I still didn't have any issue going back to sleep, and I still can't recall any details, but that's not what I'm worried about. What has me…well, scared is that if I suddenly started having these things for no reason, they might get worse. Right now they're barely worth my attention, but if they escalate…

I violently cut that thought off.

I am _not_ losing my mind. I'll do my breathing and calming exercises like always and be just fine.

* * *

I immediately feel a slight bit of tension in the air as I walk into the conference room. To my surprise I also see Chausson sitting right alongside Nagi and Vandham.

Never a good sign.

I take a seat across from the three of them and try my best to relax.

"So what's on the agenda today?"

To my further unease none of them do anything except awkwardly shift in their seats for a few seconds before Vandham starts with, "Just to start us off on the right foot here, this…explanation will go a lot quicker if you just wait until we're done, then feel free to ask us anything. And I mean anything, this isn't some sort of formal mission briefing or anything, it's all off the record."

I nod slowly.

"Ok well, we have some information about your past that we think you have the right to know."

"The 'right' to know?" I ask as I quirk an eyebrow.

"Remember what I said about waiting until we're finished?"

I sigh and reply, "Right, sorry. Continue."

Vandham takes a deep breath.

"Ok, well here's where things get…messy."

* * *

I lean back in my chair and stare sightlessly at the ceiling, dead silent.

Nagi, Vandham and Chausson are completely silent, apparently waiting for me to say something.

I heave a deep sigh and rub my eyes.

"So let me get this straight. I may or may not have had an actual life before being selected by the project. Alternatively, I may have just been some sort of lab grown specimen, created specifically for one single purpose."

Silence.

"Furthermore, my overriding purpose in life that was beaten into me with hypnotism, brainwashing, drugs or whatever, is apparently to ensure Humanities survival among the stars, come Hell or Highwater. Correct so far?"

Nagi gives a slow nod.

My arm aches because I'm clenching my fist so hard.

"And the reason you three, as well as Eleanora, never told me about this was because you were worried I might become unstable, knowing about my past and what was done to me."

It's so quiet you could hear a pin drop on a mattress.

My jaw clenches and my voice is cold enough to freeze interstellar space itself.

"Instead, I got to spend more than year of my life constantly in fear of suffering another amnesia attack, never knowing if one day I would wake up with no clue who I even _was_ , but that's ok as long as I did my job right wasn't it? Because a mentally sound person wouldn't have to keep a fucking _dossier_ of everything he's ever done in a notepad right next to where he sleeps, just in case one day he wakes up and doesn't even _recognize_ the people he's fought and bled with for every _day_ of his short, short life, now WOULD HE?!"

I see Chausson flinch and that small action is like a bucket of ice water in my face. I take a shaky breath and unclench my fist as I realize just who I'm yelling at.

"Sorry, none of you deserved that."

Vandham quietly says, "Actually we kinda did."

I make an axing motion with my hand.

"No, you didn't. From day one you've all had to constantly worry about the city as a whole, trying to keep us alive in a universe that seems to be very actively trying to kill us. If I was in your position, I know I would have done exactly the same."

Now that I'm marginally calmer, I regret my little outburst. Those three along with Eleanora have almost singlehandedly kept NLA alive despite all the hardships facing it, I should be thanking them, not shouting at them.

I give an exhausted sigh and say, "If it's alright with you, do you mind if I have some time to think about this? I'll…I'll feel better if I can work through it on my own."

"Sure kid…dismissed."

I slowly stand up and head to the door, but stop just before exiting.

"Is this something to keep to myself? Or can I tell others?"

"This information is yours to do with Cross. We're prepared to deal with whatever comes of it becoming public. All we ask is that you don't make out the Director General or Eleanora to be responsible."

I give a small nod of understanding. They thought this through.

"Understood. And thank you. For trusting me enough that is. Despite what I said, it _does_ mean a lot to me."

I close the door behind me and walk out onto the main concourse, completely lost in thought.

* * *

The room was deathly silent in Cross's departure. Chausson released a slightly pent up breath and ran a hand through his hair. That was the first time he had ever been on the receiving end of seemingly genuine anger from Cross.

Ordinarily the the young man excluded nothing but a calming and slightly mischievous atmosphere, but that had been…different.

Chausson could recognize just by looking at a person whether they were a trained soldier or not. He had spent enough time around BLADEs to spot the signs.

A certain way they carried themselves, slight shifts in posture or weight, sometimes even as simple as the way they seemed to be in absolute control of their bodies, there were a myriad of signs that bespoke military background. The Wrothians in particular exemplified this, their entire race almost seemed to be composed of trained warriors.

Not so with Cross.

He never seemed to exhibit any of the properties veteran fighters like Elma or Nagi did, with their fluidity and grace. Cross's movements and mannerisms seemed lazy, almost sloppy in comparison.

If he hadn't known any better after all this time, he would just assume that Cross was nothing more than he appeared to be, a young, White-Hispanic man of slightly short stature that merely rode on the coattails of better operatives like Elma or Miss Koo.

Not more than two minutes ago, after almost a year of briefings and debriefings, he had finally come face-to-face with the other Cross.

He was _terrifying_.

If he understood Eleanora's explanation correctly, this was the persona Cross shifted into when under stress or in combat. There was a _coldness_ to the man, almost reptilian in nature, as he had looked at the three of them. There had been no sense of warmth, recognition, or camaraderie in his voice or eyes, only an icy fire fueled by anger.

He felt a moment of pity for those who had, and would, come under that unrelenting gaze.

He glanced towards the other two and found them silently sitting. If it wasn't for Vandham agitatedly tapping his foot, he would say they were unmoved.

With a quiet sigh Nagi said, "We deserved worse than that."

Chausson gave a small snort.

"Speak for yourself Nagi, seeing him lose his temper was quite the punishment enough. That anger was…uncomfortable."

Vandham gave a small shake of his head.

"That's not the part I'm worried about. You see the look on his face as he left? He's putting on a brave front, but something rattled him. Badly. And I wouldn't worry too much about our comeuppance Nagi. Cross might get it, but I imagine quite a few of his friends are gonna let us know how they feel about what we did if he tells them. High, loud and repeatedly."

* * *

I'm not even really paying to where I'm going, just walking along aimlessly. Then again, if you don't have a destination in mind, are you really considered aimless if you just go wherever your feet take you?

I stop at a juncture between Armory Alley and the main landing pad and take a look around at the bustle of activity. Usually I like to take a look around and just watch people going about their business, discussing things they want to buy, things they actually _should_ buy, the latest advancements in technology, griping about unfair missions, so on and so forth.

Right now it seems like there's a filter on my eyes and ears. I can see and hear all the movement around me, but I can't seem to make myself feel like a part of the city, I feel oddly detached, or separate.

I tamp down my feelings of frustration and anger and heave a sigh. I need to sort through my emotions, and I need to so where I won't be bothered. I look at the Ma-non ship and make a snap decision. I might as well visit my own special vacation home.

* * *

I step off of the teleporter and take a look around at my elevated view of the city and Primordia.

After I convinced May May that hoarding money was a waste of time and effort (ok so I may be a bit of a hypocrite), I asked for a bit of a favor. Using her money and technical ingenuity, she constructed a private teleporter that would lead directly to the surface of the Port side of the ship.

Easily the best favor I've ever called in.

No one knows about this place except May May and myself, and much like my journal, it's one of the very few things I consider private.

I sit down and take a moment to appreciate the breeze and air chill from being this high up, and gaze down at the city.

The city I was bred to defend, evidently.

I try not to feel bitter about that fact.

Which is why I'm up here really. Utterly alone I can take however long I want to go through my self-reflection exercises, maybe by doing so I'll finally be able to lay all my anxieties about my memories to rest.

Wouldn't that be something?

I sit in a Full Lotus position and slowly start to ease my breathing…

* * *

I guess being told that I was specifically designed to do nothing but fight and kill, all in the name of a Humanity I may or may not care about, caught me by surprise.

Just a bit though.

I mean, I had my suspicions all along. Sure, I joked about my past on Earth, and that I could have been anything from a Janitor who liked martial arts, to a CEO who had a penchant for vigilanteism (Batman style).

But there was one event that had cast the seeds of doubt in my mind. A few weeks after I had been retrieved I was searching for a mission with Elma and Lin when we had to tab through several pages of explanation about the task. Normally we would just read off of our own devices, but that day we had been looking at the big screen, with me at the controls.

I had tabbed through almost eight pages of text in just a few seconds, and Lin rolled her eyes, assuming I just hadn't cared about the details.

Elma wasn't so convinced and had asked me if I had really read through all the text, to which I obviously replied with an affirmative. After that she had me read through a few more assignments, and I realized that I read at an astonishingly faster pace than others, almost thirty five hundred words per minute.

Add that into the mix that was my combat and meditation skills, as well as my mysteriously missing past, and I began to privately wonder if there was some sort of deliberate reason I was kept in the dark about my background.

Fear of this hypothetical scenario was the main reason I never really sought any explanation for my missing memories.

Ignorance can be bliss.

Perhaps the most darkly amusing thing is that knowing this information doesn't really, well, change anything.

Knowing this won't change who I am, there's not some sinister purpose I now have to fulfill, and I sure as Hell don't feel betrayed, aside from my initial outburst.

Heck, overall this is a good thing. Now I don't have to worry about the potential scenario in which my amnesia strikes again. To begin with it wasn't _really_ amnesia, more like selective hypnosis and brainwashing, if Vandham and everyone else's explanation is on the spot. Which means all those 'missing' memories might still be wandering around in my head, until the one day I find them again.

And as for the brainwashing, hypnosis and all that other indoctrinating junk?

Well, I don't think I really even care. Which sounds exactly like what a mind controlled slave would say, I know, but I honestly feel that way.

When I walk out into the wilds of Mira, I'm not doing it for some grand, overarching cause. I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I'm doing this for the people that are there right alongside me, watching my back while I watch theirs. I put my life on the line because maybe one day, they'll be able to hang up sword and shield, and maybe find some measure of peace on this new world.

It's the only real thanks I can give them all for both accepting and helping me, when all I had was an empty head and a loaded gun.

* * *

I slowly open my eyes and breathe out slowly. I must have been sitting here for a couple hours at the least, since the sun is just now slowly drifting behind the horizon. I take a moment to look out across the landscape and can't help but feel a sense of awe at the sheer majesty of this planet, no matter how many times I travel across it. Making a snap decision, I kick out a leg and lean back on a slight protrusion in the ships hull, and decide to just enjoy myself for a moment.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I just stopped to watch the time of day change, and how Mira seems to be just as alive as any other being that walks it's surface.

More alive really.

I'm not sure how much more time passes as I just watch the clouds and sun roll on by, and the occasional Levitath loop through the sky, but when my comm suddenly beeps an incoming call, the first hints of night are showing on the horizon.

I glance at the I.D. and quickly move to answer it when I see that it's Celica who's calling. I hit accept and a video feed shows up of Celica, Mia, Julun and Vi all crowded around the tiny camera. I can't help but snort at their surprisingly childlike appearance.

"What is this a family call? You look like a bunch of High Schoolers crowded together like that."

"Like you would know anything about High School Chief."

"Tell me I'm wrong though."

"Touché."

"So to what do I owe the honor of this call?"

"Well you said you had some sort of big meeting with the big wigs this morning, but then you never even called us once, and now it's practically nighttime! We thought they might have give you some super secret mission or something that you didn't invite us along for."

"Oh like you're one to grouse about that. If memory serves didn't you keep trying to play the secrecy game when Sakuraba hired you to go undercover?"

I hear Vi speak up with utter disbelief in his voice.

"You? An undercover agent? I feel like this must be a joke."

"Hey what the heck are you implying Vi?! I can do spy stuff just fine!"

I hear Julun speak up with, "I am with Wrothian on this. You lack subtlety necessary for secret missions."

"But I totally did one already!"

Their heads pull back out of the picture and I hear Mia practically on the verge of tears trying to convince Vi and Julun of her mission, while they're having none of it.

I can't help but snicker at Mia's plight and turn my attention to Celica, where I lose my smirk rather quickly. She's staring at me with the same concerned look she had the day before, and it never ceases to hurt my heart when she does, as sappy as that sounds.

"I wish you would turn that frown upside down, you're far more beautiful when you smile."

There's a slight hint of a blush on her cheeks but she archly responds, "Oh? Then perhaps you could give me something to smile about? You still seem distant Cross."

I sag a little as she nails the matter right on the head.

"Yah, I know. And sorry for not giving any of you a heads up after the meeting, I was…distracted."

She patiently waits for me to fess up.

"They told me about my past actually. All of it."

Her eyes light up as she hears this.

"They did?! They finally found information about you?!"

I hear the other three stop arguing in the background.

"Wait, what was that? What did he say?!"

Suddenly there's four faces crowded into the frame, all talking at once.

I can't help but smile at their reactions, and try to calm them down by saying, "Guys, relax! One at a time alright?"

Vi talks first, "So is your memory loss going to be a recurring problem? Or is that not an issue?"

He must still have what I said to him yesterday about a possible recurrence of my amnesia fresh in his mind. Sheesh, what a worrywart.

"Actually, it's pretty much a non-issue at this point, so that's some majorly good news I'd say."

He gives a bark of laughter and gives me a wink in Celica's direction.

Ok ok, I can take the hint.

"Well Chief? What were you in your past life? Can you tell us?"

And with that I go silent. I don't think for a second that they would be disgusted or put off by my past, in fact they would probably be royally pissed at Vandham and Nagi, but I still don't feel all that comfortable talking about what was done to me. It still feels like something I want to keep private for now.

"Yah, I can tell you. But, well…just not now. It's still kind of personal and muddled up. Can you give me some more time to, well, sort things out? It's kinda a long story."

"Oh shoot, my bad Chief, didn't mean to pressure you into it. Heck yah, just tell us whenever you're ready too."

The other three all nod in agreement, and I breathe a quiet sigh of thanks.

"Well since I no longer have to worry about losing what I already have, how about we meet up somewhere for dinner and make this a night to remember? You all game?"

They all share a glance, and Celica hesitantly says, "Actually, Cross, the four of us already agreed to go on a mission tonight, so we'll have to decline."

I try not to let the hurt and shock show on my face before saying, "Oh, that's fine, maybe we'll meet up tomorrow or something then."

There's an awkward silence until Mia breaks first and starts laughing hysterically, and not too shortly afterwards the other three start cracking up as well.

I growl as I figure out what they were doing.

"That was _not_ funny yah bunch of jackasses."

Mia manages to strangle out, "Except it totally was Chief! Whew, holy crap my sides hurt…we'll meet you at Army Pizza then, catch you there!"

Celica gives me a radiant smile before hanging up that almost makes me want to forget about seeking revenge.

Almost.

I stand and stretch, taking one last look at Talon Rock's monolithic presence in the dwindling daylight. A phrase that's been stuck in my head since I first awoke on Mira rises unbidden to the surface, and I can't help but smile. Now that I know the details of my past, it seems more fitting than ever.

With a small smile on my lips I quietly whisper, "no se es de donde se nace, sino de donde se pace." before turning around and walking away.

* * *

With a yawn I walk into the Barracks and give a self-satisfied smile, idly rubbing my cheek.

Celica had placed a gentle kiss on it before telling me to feel better by the next day or she would have Rock swallow me whole. I can't help but remember what Vi said about how I was basically being a fool by letting this opportunity slip by me uncontested, and quite frankly I agree with him.

My mind made up, I decide to ask Celica out on a date as soon as I can make some sort of memorable event out of it. She and Rock like to peruse Ruby Flower Co. on their days off, so I think a flower of some kind would be a nice gift. Or are you supposed to offer a gift _after_ you've started dating the person?

Oh whatever, who cares? We're two strangers in a strange land (Thank you Mr. Heinlein), so I say anything goes. So about the flower, some kind of flower native to Mira, one that's not easy to find but also beautiful and brightly colored…

Sorta like Celica herself.

Ok that was cute to an almost disgusting degree.

Hmmm…I think a Hibiscus of some variety or another will do the trick. Gonna be kinda hard to go and get one myself though, and they only really grow around Noctilum's Divine Roost.

Good thing I have friends in that area. Placing a call I wait for it to pickup.

"Hello Friend, this is Tatsu, Nopon diplomat to Dodonga Caravan speaking."

"Long time no see Mr. Potato Head!"

"Tatsu see little resemblance between fictional character and handsome Nopon Liaison, now what does friend Cross want?"

"Knew it was me huh?"

"Only Linlee and Cross speak to Tatsu so. And Cross not sound like Linlee."

"Glad to hear that, anyway I need a favor from you bud. One that will pay quite well, give you an excuse to come back to NLA, and is right up the alley for any self-respecting Nopon merchant."

"…Friend has Tatsu's attention."

I grin. Hook line and sinker. It always feels good to out-con the conman.

* * *

"Hey Cross, what's got you grinning like a madman?"

I startle at the voice and see Elma behind my right shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that Elma. And I was smiling because I love it when a plan comes together."

"Care to share the details?"

"Sorry, it's a secret."

"Well if you say so."

There's a strange awkward silence that follows and I frown.

"Elma, is something the ma-"

"Vandham and the rest told me you learned about your…your past this morning."

I'm silent for a moment as I take a closer look at Elma's face. I've been around her long enough to know when she's putting on a brave face, and this is definitely one of those times. There's a certain rigidity to her posture, and a slight tightness to the way she has her arms crossed.

"And? Did you know about what I was the whole time I was on your squad? Or was that part of the reason I made it on there in the first place?"

She doesn't quite manage to hide the obvious pain and hurt on her face at my words.

"I actually didn't know at first. It wasn't until about a week after I took you in that they informed me."

I give a relieved smile.

"Well I'm just glad you picked me because of my naturally amazing talent then."

She looks confused and I lightly punch her on the arm, grinning.

"C'mon Elma, you don't think I'm actually upset with you, do you? We've spent a year and change tackling this planet one disaster at a time, and it's gonna take a lot more than some harmlessly kept secret to break that connection up."

She shakes her head and heavily sighs.

"How can you so easily forgive me? Or any other of the people who kept this from you for so long?"

I can't help but roll my eyes.

"For Christ's sake Elma you're gonna make me feel like I should actually be upset about this or something."

"And you're saying your _not_?"

"Not really, no."

I get a blank stare from her.

"Look, it's not too easy to explain why I feel that way, but it's the truth. Given the opportunity to redo my life, I would change very little. And yes, thats exactly what a good little mind slave _would_ say, but that doesn't alter how I actually feel. Oh for crying out loud, ok look, put bluntly I like the people around me. There I said it."

She gives me a blank stare before pulling me into a hug that crushes the air out of my lungs.

"I'm lucky to have met you Cross. All of us are."

I feel my eyes bug out and stammer, "Er, uh, Elma? Colonel? You're kinda worrying me here. And I thought you had a thing for Doug."

She let's me go and then smirks.

'Don't flatter yourself. Besides Doug is way more handsome than you are."

I can't help the playful smile that springs across my face.

"Ever so hurtful Elma, what does that say about Celica's taste?"

She brightens as I mention this.

"Finally going to ask her out? About time if you don't mind me saying so."

"Well without spoiling too much of the surprise, I have a mutual friend of ours picking up something very special for the occasion."

"Ooh, romantic. Not something I would have expected from you."

"I thought you of all people would appreciate just how full of surprises I can be."

"Well I won't deny you have a certain randomness to you." She replies rather dryly.

"Besides, you've got no business making fun of me, you and Doug haven't even _tried_ to have a little heart-to-heart have you?"

I guess her species can blush, as a strange blue tint rises to her cheeks as she firmly replies, "And now I think we're putting an end to this conversation."

"Spoilsport."

We both share a laugh that Elma breaks by simply smiling and says, "I'm glad you're back to being yourself Cross. Vandham said you had actually shouted at them…pretty bold move there."

"One they didn't really deserve but…I'll be the first to admit it was cathartic in its own way."

"Well enough of the serious stuff, what movie did we have on hold since last time?"

" _Ender's Game._ Eleanor hinted that I might find it relatable. Now knowing what I know, I'll admit to being quite curious."

"You and me both."

* * *

 **Author's Notes: Well this chapter came out quite a bit earlier than I had planned for, but them's the breaks.**

 **So far I've been trying to stick to a weekly release schedule, plus or minus a few days, but with Summer rolling around and all that entails I'm making a few adjustments to when the chapters will be released from now on. In between Summer Classes, visiting family and just straight up leaving the State for all sorts of different reasons (Starts with a 'W' and ends with a, 'edding'), I'll likely start releasing chapters bi-weekly.**

 **And just like all self-imposed deadlines, they'll likely change due to unforeseen circumstances such as tests, hanging out with friends, expired milk and all sorts of other planetary buggery.**

 **Well I think that just about sums it up.**

 **Major thanks to all the people that have stuck around to read my work to this point, my desperate craving for acknowledgment and validation is greatly appeased by slowly seeing that view count increase.**

 **Self-deprecating aside, feel free to leave a review or just simple thoughts about my work so far. If there's one thing we all know about the internet, it's that people are gonna let you know what they think regardless of whether you want to hear it or not.**

 **So go wild :D**


	7. Chapter 7: On Dire Straits

Chapter 7: On Dire Straits

"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."

― **Gaylord Nelson**

"Ok five minutes to drop jarheads!"

"You do know only Polowski and myself were actually part of the Marines right? The other's, ugh, they were actually in the _army._ "

"Well fuck you very much Sergeant, I'll have you know that I've been in free fall for as long as you've actually been in real combat."

"All that wind resistance would explain why you're such a windbag now wouldn't it?"

I snort at my cargo's back and forth banter.

"Gentlemen please. As the Director General said, this is an island hopping campaign. Thus all soldiers to first set foot on the shore must be Marines. It's a tradition."

"For a guy who's only been awake and remembering for a year or so you seem to know more than you let on."

"I'm a fast reader. Although I'm somewhat anxious about the objective name. Did you or Polowski piss off a mission planner by chance?"

"Not that I know of. Objective Iwo Jima…that's asking for trouble."

"Well look on the bright side, maybe you'll get to plant a flag on Mt. Space Suribachi."

That get's a laugh from Sergeant Garroway.

* * *

It's been a week and a half since I was told about my past as a lab rat. During that time I've been training my teammates like a madman in Skell tactics and combat, making sure that by the time combat rolls around we can at least make a decent showing of ourselves.

And not, you know, die.

I did get a pretty nice surprise the day after all the drama however. I'd finally admitted to myself that my good ol' Lailah wasn't coming back in time from repairs and decided to just buy another stock model, using the downtime to fine tune her to my standards.

At least that was the plan until I got a call from Lin.

"Hey Big Brotherrrr….I've some good news for youuuuuuu…"

"Drop the condescending act please. If your news doesn't include a giant robot that I currently am in desperate need of, I'm hanging up."

I can practically taste her smug silence.

"…that's what this call is about, isn't it?"

"I'll be waiting in the Hangar, double time it."

I triple time it. Arriving at the Hangar in record time I look for Lin and see her happily chatting away with a few Ma-non and Orpheans. Running over I shout, "I'm here! Don't keep me in suspense sis, I've got a plan to implement and it's reliant upon me not having to walk everywhere."

She maliciously grins as the other Xenos head their own way and she happily says, "Is that a pretty please I hear? I'm pretty sure a pretty please would be pretty good at making me inclined to show you something pretty awesome."

She's welcome to her snark this time.

"Pretty please miss genius engineer?"

"Well since you ask so nicely…ta daaaaa!"

She wisks away a tarp that was covering a brand new Lailah, practically identical to my old one, even down to the black, red and green color scheme I had.

"Holy…I thought she was gone for good."

"Well your previous Skell was busted pretty bad, she got stripped down to components since it was just easier to do it that way instead of a full overhaul. But don't you worry buddy, this girl right here is a _prototype._ "

"A what?"

"Say hello to the first of the third generation Skells big bro. This right here is the model 'Queen'."

I can't tear my eyes away.

"So whats the big jump in design that warranted calling these guys third gens? Something awesome right?"

"Oh you have no idea. You know how the Ganglion's Quos are loaded with all sorts of jamming and self-repair technology? Well we decided to go ahead and improve on that, and this is the end result."

"How was it improved on?"

"Well the self-repair functions are pretty self-explanatory. We basically stole their nanotech and reverse engineered it with better programming. Unless you actually have the limb blown off, the little guys can repair hull damage as well as basic electronic repair. It's the jamming equipment that really makes a difference though."

"How so?"

"Well the Quo's usually broadcast electromagnetic waves of varying frequencies and try to hack into our systems through brute force. It's not the most subtle or efficient way of messing with our stuff. Ours is as personal as a punch in the nose. The head portion is loaded with equipment that sends out very powerful, very focused jamming waves that can actually fry electronics if you get close enough."

I give a _very_ appreciative nod.

"Anything else?"

"Just some minor stuff. Better ether circulation through the frame, so you don't have to worry about ether weaponry quite as much. Minor improvements to targeting systems, stuff like that."

"Lin, I think I'm going to have quite a lot of fun with this machine…"

* * *

So here we are, a week and change later, as the main thrust of our slow march across Mira.

Hopefully this campaign goes better than the last one did.

"Two minutes to drop!"

Garroway yells back, "Understood, get ready to drop Gate Crashers! And don't fuck this up! Sound off!"

"Polowski, ready!"

"Leingang, ready!"

"Ricardo, ready!"

"Alexander, ready!"

"Jelani, ready!"

"Glad to hear it, Hunters one through six, sound off!"

" _Hunters are prepped sergeant. Awaiting your command_."

I can't help but get a goofy grin on my face at hearing the Hunter units go through their checklist. After Tan'Celeg's and Veven's autosentries proved to be a massive success, they had continued to construct different variants of the venerable machine.

The 'Hunter' line of sentries was designed fairly recently, specifically made for combat against technologically inclined forces rather than Indigens.

The most interesting part is that Veven put a voice synthesizer into the Hunter's that sounds quite a bit like the Droids from the decades old film _Elysium._

Not that I'm complaining, they're _meant_ to be intimidating.

"Chief, I'm picking up increasing energy signatures from our target! Looks like they're getting ready to roll out the red carpet."

"Ok sit tight guys things are about to get bumpy! Minute and seventeen seconds to go!"

My squad is currently on a direct course towards one of the Ganglion bases that dot the island chain between Primordia and Sylvalum, with the aim of destroying the garrison and clearing a path for the main bulk of our forces.

To that end we're currently flying a scant meter above the waves while pushing thirteen-hundred kmh, fairly fast considering our extra baggage. Said baggage consists of three repurposed cargo containers that are being shared among our Skells, with Mia and Vi carrying the first, with Celica and myself toting the second. Julun in her Galdr can manhandle the third all by her lonesome thankfully.

The containers are carrying our backup for this mission: Garroway and his five other BLADE subordinates, with six Hunter units to back them up. AKA, the Gate Crashers as they've taken to calling themselves. Their job is to take out the two Ziggs that are currently keeping watch over this airspace so that my team can freely offer support, and then move on to take over the compound completely. Nice and simple.

It'd be nice if 'simple' meant 'easy'.

"Chief, one of the Ziggs has a bead on you!"

"Understood. Celica, overlap!"

"Already next to you."

Her machine sidles up next to mine and we both cross our Skell's appendages, overlapping the shields mounted on the forearms, hopefully blocking enough of the Ziggs salvo until we slip beneath it's cone of fire. My cockpit suddenly chimes an alert: lock-on detected.

"Hold tight down there, it's about to get bumpy!"

"Great! I was just starting to get bored!"

I smirk at Garroway's joke just as a sudden burst of plasma smashes into our activated shield with a noticeable kick. I grit my teeth and resist the urge to slip out of the incoming fire. With both of our machines dedicating one arm to carrying our little payload, our maneuvering ability is somewhere between nonexistent and a flying brick.

This continues on for a few more seconds and just as I'm starting to think we aren't gonna make it the barrage of plasma fire slips above us and kicks up gouts of steam as the shots hit the ocean. I breathe a shaky sigh of relief and focus on our target, letting the arm shields slowly recharge.

By now I can see the burnished walls of the Ganglion fortress appearing on the horizon, one of many outposts that we're gonna be bringing down in the days and weeks to come.

"Six seconds! We're counting on you guys!"

"Have a little faith, geez!"

I put my Lailah into a steep climb as we crest the walls, letting go of the container at the apex of our ascent. Our job done for the moment Celica and I coax as much speed as we can out of our machines and loop around for another run at the fortress, followed closely by the other three, their cargo dumped as well.

Hopefully the ground pounders will have those anti-air batteries out of the picture by the time we loop around, or this is gonna turn real messy real quick.

* * *

Garroway winced as the blow-away doors did their job and burst outwards, pinwheeling violently until they impacted the ground forty meters below. Letting his body fall out of the embrace of his crash seat he rotated midair and got his bearings. Back on Earth he and everyone else on his squad had been paratroopers of one kind or another. HALO, HAHO, as well as LALO jumpers had had very little to do on this planet thus far, as tactical insertions from high altitudes had very little practical use in the wilds of Mira. Today was going to change that.

He was just beginning to feel the pull of Mira's gravity as he oriented himself downwards and took stock of the situation with a practiced eye.

Cross and his buddies had dropped them exactly where they wanted to be, right at the base of the tower where one of the Ziggs was holed up. Below him a random assortment of Prone, Marnucks and Puges were rushing about, obviously disoriented at the sudden appearance then disappearance of the Human Skells.

Grinning, Garroway went into free fall for about two seconds before pulling his chute, which slowed his descent with a sharp jerk for another two seconds before he detached it, falling the rest of the ten meters to the ground.

With a practiced movement, he bent his legs and rolled, the Exoskeleton attached to his body helping to absorb most of the impact that would have shattered the legs of any fully biological Human.

MIMS did have their perks.

Noticing Jelani and Hunters one through two impacting the ground right alongside him, he brought up his gauss rifle and sighted on the chest of one of the still gaping Prone, who was obviously still in shock at the sudden appearance of a Human falling from the sky.

Not giving the poor fellow any time to get his bearings, Garroway squeezed the trigger and a depleted uranium spike screamed out of his gun and perforated the Prone's chest, carrying enough kinetic energy to physically throw the giant humanoid back almost two meters.

Polowski added his own assault rifle to the mix, blowing off the head of a Marnuck that had just started to raise his own rifle. The rest of the Ganglion seemed to recover from their shock and began to raise weapons or find cover.

Or at least they tried to.

Hunter One and Two were a little too quick on the draw, raising the massive chainguns attached to their right arms and letting loose a lethal volley of gunfire. With a tracer round mixed in every three shots, as well as an explosive bullet every seven, a sustained burst from the Hunters weapons was guaranteed to tear apart anything that got in their way, armored or not.

The Ganglion never stood a chance.

With the two converging streams of bullets tearing through them, mixed in with Garroway and Polowski's more accurate shooting, the Ganglion were torn apart within four seconds, never getting off a single shot.

Garroway was grinning like a little kid. Not THAT'S how you start off a mission.

Quickly reining in his unchecked glee he did one quick scan of the area and found no other stragglers, motioning for his team to follow and keep their eyes peeled they sprinted to the base of the tower. Garroway noted that judging by the sounds of the nearly deafening roar of gunfire coming from other parts of the compund, the rest of his squad was fighting towards their own objectives as well.

They had almost passed through the door when several shouts echoed through the yard. Glancing towards one of the entryways Garroway saw several Marnucks sprint around the corner, closely followed by a Pugilith.

Hunter One and Two alongside Jelani rolled behind some of the metal barricades the Ganglion had scattered in front of the main door, returning fire and trying to keep the Ganglion pinned.

"We got this Sarge! Take out that damn gun!"

"Stay sharp and don't get shot!"

Sprinting up the stairs Garroway gave a small sigh of relief as the interior of the fortress was deserted, allowing him to reach the top in record time. Forcing open the door that blocked off the platform the Zigg was stationed on, he wasn't sure who was more surprised, himself or the Marnuck that stared blankly at him, the two of them almost face to face. Recovering first Garroway did the first thing that came to mind, hauling back his foot and kicking the Marnuck square in the dick.

Or at least where the dick would have been on a Human.

To his macabre amusement the Marnuck gave a strangled noise as Garroway's Exo enhanced boot connected, affording him enough time to raise his rifle and put the poor bastard out of his misery.

Apparently Marnucks have sensitive genitalia just like any other Male. Good to know.

Detaching the detonation pack strapped to his armor, Garroway cleared the door and saw his target still swiveling back and forth, searching the skies for the Human Skells it had been targeting earlier.

Smirking Garroway chucked the device at the Zigg, then ducked behind the door as the magnetic clasps on the bomb adhered to the Zigg's hull. Sending the detonation command Garroway couldn't resist a boyish grin as a tremendous explosion ripped through the doorway, nearly deafening him. Glancing out the door he satisfactorily nodded at the sight of the Zigg in about a few hundred scattered pieces, most of them still smoking.

In the distance he heard another explosion similar to the one he had just caused, signifying the destruction of the last anti-air battery this base had. Music to his ears.

His joy quickly disappeared as he heard the thrum of gravitic engines starting up and sighed.

Looks like the Ganglion Skell forces were finally waking up. Getting on his comm he connected with Cross.

"All Ziggs destroyed, time for you to save our butts with those fancy robots of yours Lieutenant."

"Just Cross is fine. And don't you sweat it Space Marine, we'll be there in less than a minute."

"You'd better, I don't think the Ganglion like how we've redecorated their house."

No sooner had he finished his sentence than Garroway saw several Qmoevas and a Galdr lift off from the center of the fortress, clearly looking for payback.

A minute was suddenly looking like a long time.

* * *

"Alright team we've got a clear shot at ruling the sky! Let's make quick work of this and lend a hand to our friends on the ground. Assume flying V formation!"

"I hate that name…" I hear Vi mutter and grin, since that's exactly why I said it.

We head towards the fortress once again, but this time don't bother hugging the ground and gain an altitude of about seventy meters above the base. My sensors chime a warning as the Ganglion start deploying their Skell forces, which rise above the island and start moving towards us.

I count ten Qmoevas with one Galdr backing them up and I can't stop a smug smile from forming on my lips.

Two to one odds will make this an even fight.

"Celica, you're with me. We'll take the five Qmoevas at our nine o' clock. Mia, Vi, you two have the ones at three o' clock. Julun, you take the Galdr then move to assist our pals on the ground. Let's get to work guys!"

We peel off of each other and start moving towards our targets. The five machines Celica and I are up against accelerate towards us in a loose line and start firing as soon as they enter weapons range.

I shake my head in amazement. No discipline in these guys at all.

"Once we get within three hundred meters focus on the center machine, hold fire until then."

"Right behind you Cross."

We spend the next four seconds dodging and weaving as all sorts of munitions fly our way. Ether blasts, magnetically guided plasma shots, homing missiles, the works. Thankfully in between my machines natural sturdiness and jamming equipment, as well as Celica's frightening maneuverability, we take approximately zero damage as we charge towards the Ganglion line.

As soon as we enter the three hundred meter mark I lock onto the center machine with my L-launcher and assault rifle, while Celica does the same with her chain gun and rail cannons.

"Fire!"

At my command we lay on the trigger and tracers fill the air, drawing solid lines of light towards the lead Qmoeva. There's also a slight kick as one of the four warheads loaded into my launcher is shot out, before igniting it's engine and tearing towards the intended recipient.

The Ganglion immediately shift their fire to the oncoming missile, managing to shoot it down before it connects but the foremost pilot isn't good enough to hit the missile while simultaneously dodging our shots.

My volley goes wide but both of Celica's shots connect, with the chain gun tearing off an arm and a leg, while the railgun bullet pierces the pilot's compartment and likely splatters him across the inside of the machine.

Whoever's retrieving his remains out of that is gonna be doing it with a pressure hose.

Momentarily stunned by the loss of one of their comrades and our sudden retaliation, Celica and I fly through their formation with no further issue. I take a look at my tactical display and see that my other three teammates are just about to engage their own targets, just like we planned.

"Cross, they've looped around and are right on our tails."

I turn my attention back to our little theater of combat and see that the four Qmoeveas got their act together and are rapidly closing on Celica and myself. I smirk as they start to open fire, but none of the shots come even close.

"They've split up two on one, we'll loop around the compound and then pull a split jaw on them, you ready?"

"Whenever you are Cross."

"Then let's show these guys how we work."

Celica and I send our respective Skells into diverging paths that resemble a half-circle, two Qmoevas following us apiece. I deliberately keep my speed low so that they have time to catch up and stay interested, at which point my Skell beeps a warning at me that I'm being painted by a targeting laser.

I wait an extra second before throwing myself into a midair roll that slips me around a highly concentrated plasma blast, while several weaker shots fly by my Lailah with plenty of room to spare.

At this point I think the Qmoeva pilots are just throwing things at the wall, hoping something sticks.

A few seconds later I clear the lip of the fortress wall and bank towards where Celica is heading straight towards me. I take a deep breath and prepare to pull off a rather difficult maneuver.

The 'slip jaws' move was named after the Germivores that inhabit Mira, mostly after how their forward mandibles act like biological scissors, cutting their prey apart in a horizontal motion. The Skell version of this is fairly similar, but definitely not for newbies, maybe not even veterans.

After all, flying directly at your partners Skell when both of you are moving upwards of a thousand kmh isn't exactly easy. It takes extremely fast reaction time, as well as a certain level of intimacy and familiarity with your wingmate.

Luckily, me and Celica fit all of the above criteria, and then some.

We streak past each other with a scant meter to spare, already firing our weapons at our opposite number's pursuers. And not just firing directly at them either, we aim low so that the pilots instinctively dodge upwards.

Upwards into their teammates, who don't quite manage to figure out that we suckered them in time to avoid.

Two Qmoevas collide head on at a combined twenty-four hundred kmh, causing a _very_ satisfying screech of distressed metal that sends the two machines pinwheeling away from each other in a spray of torn metal.

Two down, two to go.

"Cross, the one chasing me switched targets, he's after you now!"

I check my six and resist the urge to grit my teeth.

"Oh marvelous, why is it always _me_?" I mutter under my breath.

"Break right Cross, I'll cut across and-"

"Negative, help Garroway and the others, I can take care of these two."

There's a split second of hesitation before she replies, "Understood."

I see her bank towards the base and smile to myself.

If I can't handle two Qmoevas on my own, I'll hang up my pilot's wings and just retire.

I put my Skell into a steep climb and lay on the afterburners, ignoring the badly aimed shots that don't even come close enough to scorch the paint. I keep an eye on my sensor readout until it shows that the Ganglion mechs are directly behind me, spread out by about twenty or so meters.

Perfect.

I cut the main thrusters and flip my Lailah around, so that I'm facing the two Qmoevas in free fall. I wait another second for the Qmoevas to adjust to my new position before activating the upgraded jamming suite in my Skell.

The results are instantaneous. Both machines immediately cease firing and start haphazardly maneuvering, all coordination lost. I take advantage of their momentary confusion and disengage the E-Scythe on my right shoulder pauldron, triggering it and bringing to life a three meter beam of pure plasma contained in a carefully tuned magnetic field.

I savagely grin as I bring the blade down on the first ascending Qmoeva, burning through it's chest and cockpit, likely vaporizing the pilot before he or she even had a chance to blink.

The second machine lagged behind the first once my jamming took effect, so I hit the engines and a violent shove brings me within range of the Skell, which is only now realizing that it's in trouble.

Swinging the scythe down in a violent hammer blow, the Qmoeva brings up it's arms in a desperate attempt to block the beam. Which doesn't help obviously, merely delaying it's destruction by a fraction of a second as the scythe melts right through it's upraised arms and pierces the reactor housing, causing a violent explosion that blows the Qmoeva into next week and knocks my machine into a nauseating tumble, in addition to scorching the front of my armor.

Totally worth it though. Reactor explosions are always insanely cathartic to watch.

Halting the spin with careful bursts from my engines I take a look around the battlefield and see how things are coming along.

As I expected Vi, Mia and Julun finished off their opponents and are now in the process of surrounding and wiping out their side of the fortress, with some help from the BLADEs on the ground and the Hunter units. No need to worry about them.

Things are a little more shaky where Celica and Garroway's squad are fighting. They're facing roughly the same sized force that the others are up against, but only have about a third of the firepower available. I do a quick scan of the Ganglion they're up against and count three Pugiliths with maybe a dozen other foot soldiers to back the two walkers up.

Yah, against a single Skell with only four soldiers to back it up, that's a bit of an uphill battle. And I don't think just flying down from above guns blazing will do much, three Pugiliths can do a surprising amount of damage if you let them get a clear shot at you. I do a quick inventory of my available weaponry. I still have the Drone pods available, in fact I haven't used them once, as well as the scythe, rifle, pile bunker, shield and minigun. I also have three warheads in the L-Launcher. A thermobaric round, standard LGB and a 'beehive' missile.

Well, the 'beehive' was practically made for situations such as this, it'd be a shame not to use it.

"Garroway, you still alive down there?"

"For now. You done screwing around with your dance partners?"

"Indeed I am. You have any Hunter units still active down there?"

"Hunter One is still kicking, why?"

"That's all I need for now, brace yourself for incoming fire."

"I'll be waiting with bated breath. Now friggin hurry!"

I wince as I hear an explosion over the headset before he closes the channel. Sure sounds hectic down there.

I have my Skell interface with Hunter One's threat recognition software and start inputting targeting data into the missile, moving as fast as I can without screwing up any of the information.

I do _not_ want to have any friendly fire accidents because I messed up a simple target selection algorithm. Regardless I finish in record time and open up a squad wide channel.

"Beehive missile away! Keep your heads down, impact in nine seconds!"

There's a small shudder as I launch the missile and it streaks towards the scattered Ganglion below. One of the Pugiliths stops firing at my allies and aims upwards, attempting to shoot down the missile.

After two seconds of missed laser fire one of the walkers shots hits the rocket's tail fin and knocks it into an uncontrolled spin.

Which then tells the missiles simple robotic brain to fire it's true payload.

The casing breaks off and fifty smaller missiles the size of two of my fingers put together streak towards the Ganglion below, led on by Hunter One's guidance.

The Ganglion completely ignore their previous targets and desperately try to shoot down the swarm of missiles bearing down on them, but they're a bit too late to get them all.

In their defense, they do manage to take down nineteen of the fifty missiles in the six seconds they have before impact, but in this case not getting the gold medal puts you in dead last, so to speak.

Twenty-four of the rockets target the remaining twelve infantry, while the remaining seven go for the three pugiliths.

Each of these missiles hits with the force of a conventional frag grenade, so maybe two for each soldier was a bit overkill, if the sudden bursts of spraying blood as the warheads tear into the infantry are any indicator.

I don't envy the janitor that has to go cleaning this battlefield afterwards, they'll have their work cut out for them.

The pugiliths fare a bit better, but the missiles still knock them around and damage their armor, making them easy targets for Celica and myself.

I go in for a strafing run with my rifle raised, while Celica's Formula hoses them down with a deadly combination of rail cannon and grenade fire. At the mercy of our weaponry and better positioning, the Pugiliths don't last long and ten seconds later it's over.

I raise Julun after making sure that all the Ganglion are down and ask, "So how are things on your end? All done?"

"All Ganglion accounted for Cross. Not much left of base either."

"You know we were supposed to keep structural damage to a minimum right?"

"Hard to honor objectives when Ganglion coward is hiding behind wall."

"Fair enough. Take Vi and Mia and start patrolling the area, make sure we didn't miss anything. The main force should be flying overhead in about five minutes."

"Understood."

With that taken care of I turn back towards Garroway's squad and watch him help Jelani along, seeing as how the guy is missing his right arm and all.

"High fives are gonna suck now right?"

I see him smirk at my joke despite the obvious pain he's probably feeling and he retorts, "Joke's on you Boy Wonder, I'm left handed. So Garroway, you gonna think about raising that flag anytime soon?"

"What makes you think I already didn't?"

He jerks his thumb behind him and I notice that he somehow found time to plant an old United States Flag on one of the towers that comprise the base.

I chuckle at his obsession with tradition and make a mental note to praise the Hunter unit's effectiveness. While it doesn't look like Hunter Two made it through the battle, Hunter One is still standing strong, despite the heavy damage to it's chassis.

Tan'Celeg and Veven really know their business.

Me and Celica spend the next few minutes taking inventory of all the wrecked equipment around the base before my comm beeps, signifying that I have an incoming call.

"Hammer Leader to Gate Crashers, is objective Iwo Jima secure?"

"Hammer Leader you're free to fly on through. The flag is raised and the airfields are open."

"Heh, I should have known you would have our path cleared my disciple."

"Hey Bozé, if you've got time to talk you've got time to fly."

I laugh at Doug's uptight voice. He's always a stickler for rules during missions.

I hear Bozé sigh and say, "Very well then, we'll have to reconvene at a later time Cross."

"I'll keep my schedule open then, good hunting you two."

Bozé and Doug sign off and I turn my Lailah's optics toward the ocean. Sure enough I see a line of fifteen Skells carrying containers full of BLADEs and Hunter units approaching our recent conquest and then they're gone, roaring over the compound on their way to our main prize of the day, a major Ganglion outpost located about eighty kilometers away from this one.

I grin at Bozé and Doug's new squads, with Bozé leading the Hammers and Doug in charge of the newly christened Doughboys. A BLADE I don't know is in charge of Bozé's old unit, Team Balmung.

I almost feel sorry for the Ganglion they're about to go up against.

* * *

Ten hours later the battle was all but over. The main Ganglion compound had been sparsely staffed, in fact initial estimates of the base's population were almost double what was actually encountered. Needless to say the assault had gone smoothly with only one Skell destroyed, two of the ground soldiers killed and five Hunter units wrecked.

Not a bad start at all.

After the fortress had been cleared out engineers and mechanics had started flying in from NLA. While the Ganglion were kind enough to provide a prefabricated base for our use, our current plan is to expand and reinforce it, using it as a sort of fortress and or repair base against any further Ganglion incursions from Sylvalum.

As I park my Lailah and power her systems down I take a look around the fortress at the controlled chaos happening. It's the usual mix of Ma-non, Orphean, Prone and Humans that make up NLA's engineering brigades, and after a few months of working together they really have this sort of stuff down to a science. The Prone do most of the heavy lifting, and sure enough I see three Tree Clan members attaching the massive barrels of an anti-air gun that would normally require eight Humans in MIMs to assemble. The Ma-non and Orpheans aren't exactly the most physically inclined species, so they handle things like assembling electronic systems and keeping track of what materials go where. Us Humans are sort of the jack-of-all-trades guys, taking care of the odd job and making sure the more specialized jobs don't blow up in our faces.

I yawn as I drop the last meter to the ground and walk to where my squad set down. Everyone's stretching their limbs with varying degrees of discomfort and I notice Mia rubbing her butt with a pained look on her face.

Well who am I to judge? Sitting in a crash seat for half a day would flatten anyones tush.

"You look like a real pain in the ass Mia."

"Oh har har Chief. Not all of us have buns of steel."

"In my case quite literally."

She rolls her eyes and settles on merely ignoring me. I turn to the non-cybernetic members of our group and pose a general question.

"So how was your guys's first Skell battle? You lived through it so c'mon, hit me with the details!"

Julun grins like a kid and immediately replies, "I refuse to leave Skell for combat ever again. Had feeling of invincibility."

Vi snorts and says, "Don't become so overconfident that you actually end up losing one day. Because all I will have to say is, 'told you so'."

"Hmph. Spoken like true jealous man."

Celica interjects with, "Can you two not argue every time you're occupying the same space? Banter or not it's quite exhausting for the rest of us."

Mia grins and slyly adds "Oh I dunno Celica, if I didn't know any better I'd say these two have a bit of a thing for each other."

They don't even blink and Vi gives a derisive snort.

"Impossible. My preferred woman would be of gentle demeanor and quiet confidence, and have a beauty that would leave me breathless. Does that sound like our dear comrade here?"

"I shall remember those words when I am strangling you later Wrothian, since you mentioned being 'breathless'."

"Yo, Cross!"

We all glance towards the booming voice and see Doug striding towards us, a big grin on his face. I answer with a smile of my own and clasp his bicep when we get within arms reach of each other.

"Looks like you came through the battle just fine then. Welcome to Alpha Base!"

He grins and nods towards the rest of my team.

"You gonna introduce me? I know Mia and Celica, but who are the other two?"

"The Wrothian is Vi Leand, and miss Prone here is Julun Baravo. Guys, this is Doug Barrett, a good friend and ok Skell pilot."

"You're pretty free with the editorials there pal."

"It just shows how much I care."

"Well I didn't come over here just to grouse about your bad manners, all of us are having a special dinner event over yonder and you're all the last guests to arrive. So c'mon already, we've got something to celebrate!"

The impromptu dining area set up had all the comforts of home. A few flimsy tables, nowhere near enough chairs for everyone, and a dirt floor with plenty of sharp rocks to go around.

All the comforts of modern civilization, am I right?

"Ah, you've finally arrived my disciple! Come! Regale me with the details of your battle, I have been waiting many hours for this."

I can't help the exasperated smile that comes to my face.

"Sensei, I just got here and you already want to talk shop? Let's at least eat first, Doug was all hyped up for this feast he had prepared."

Bozé gave a confused frown.

"Feast? Odd of him to say that. Pre-made rations have been the staple of our diet."

"…You're kidding me."

"I'm afraid not."

I turn around and see Doug impishly grinning.

"I may have brought along a little something that is…hard to come by nowadays. So instead of standing here how about we-"

He's cut off as his comm beeps. Looking down at it he viciously scowls and growls, "You two will have to go on without me for now. Mechanics want me for something. Bozé, show him where I stashed the goods."

I frown as he disappears into a crowd of mechanics.

"Well now what?"

Bozé thoughtfully strokes his chin.

"Well he did say to show you the coolers he left behind…"

"Did you say coolers?"

"Yes, why?"

I stare at him in open wonderment.

"Show me."

Shrugging he leads me to a pile of three old fashioned water coolers that are set off to the side of the camp. Curiosity getting the better of me I open up one of them and my eyes widen as I see what's inside. Three frozen Pork Tenderloins, with different sauces and spices lined up right alongside them. Booze breathes out in awe, "By Buddha's good graces…"

"You can say that again. Where was he hiding this stuff all this time?! Earth meats are practically buried treasure at this point!"

"I cannot say. Although I see why he was less than pleased to be pulled away at this juncture. But now the question is how was he planning to prepare it…"

"Couldn't we just throw it in a field oven or something?"

Bozé looks at me like I just asked him to swap underwear with me.

"Unthinkable! Those measly machines cannot do justice to proper outdoor cooking. As hard as it is to say, I think we should merely wait until someone can actually do justice to this meal."

I sit for a minute before smiling as the beginnings of an idea form in my head.

"Hey Sensei, we wouldn't happen to have any tinfoil lying around would we? Or something similar that can conduct heat? Also if we have a few bars of metal saying around I'll need those as well."

"We have plenty of those items lying around, but why ask? Wait…you're not actually planning to cook these are you?"

I give a smug grin and reply, "Trust me, after spending a year around Lin and helping her out with meals, you learn a thing or two. Give me the benefit of the doubt Sensei, and I promise I will blow your mind."

I sneak a glance at where Mia is introducing the rest of my squad to the Hammers, Balmungs and Doughboys.

A massive grin I have no control over sneaks onto my face. Man I cannot _wait_ to showcase one of my few talents that doesn't have anything to do with beating things to death.

* * *

"While Master Bozé speaks quite eloquently about your skills in combat, he neglected to mention that you're a chef that could put Ni Zain to shame."

I grin as Gu Ladha stares with open infatuation at my slowly roasting masterpieces. Then again I have quite the crowd of almost fifteen BLADEs mesmerized by the aroma of sizzling meat, the Wrothian and Prone members of our squad being first and foremost among them.

"So you call him Master then? Sheesh, that guy takes on students like a sinking ship takes on water."

"But perhaps that is just the sort of mentor I needed, he certainly didn't allow me any room for self-doubt."

Vi amusedly snorts at her words.

"I see where Cross get's some of his teaching habits. From the very start he was always throwing us to the beasts of Mira, saying 'you'll all be fine'."

I give a mock frown and reply, "I had nothing but faith in your ability to survive. Besides, all that tough love paid off in the end now didn't it? Zo Ozuchi was pretty impressed with your improvement now wasn't he?"

Gu Ladha stares at Vi with open wonder on her face.

"Wait, you're the rumored student of Zo Ozuchi? I had no idea…"

Vi gets all shy at her sudden show of admiration and bashfully says, "It's nothing too impressive, Cross is still a far better warrior than I am, I still have much to learn."

I can't resist hyping up Vi as his wingman and slyly say, "Not so unimpressive that Ozuchi didn't give him his own personal Calador…"

"What?! The legendary Zo Ozuchi passed on his Calador to you?! That's amazing!"

Vi is practically dying of embarrassment at this point and I have to try my hardest not burst out laughing at his expression.

He and Gu Ladha had hit it off almost instantly, to my surprise and enjoyment. I guess being one of the few Wrothians accepted into the elite squads, as well as dealing with… _eccentric_ Humans gave them a lot to talk about. Gu Ladha seemed especially ecstatic that Vi was genuinely interested in talking to her, since she's always dealt with confidence issues due to her strangely rounded and fuzzy ears.

Wait a second…Vi doesn't mind the fact that her ears are different than other Wrothians…Lin once accused me of having a thing for Celica because of her radically different ears as well, which I'll admit I _do_ find attractive…Christ.

The brat may be on to something.

Sighing despondently at that little revelation I turn to see how everyone else is taking Vi's newfound crush, and find them staring at me.

Mia and Julun give a thumbs up at my little pep talk and Celica gives a knowing grin. I guess we're all on the same page then. Good to know.

Casting a subtle glance in Celica's direction I wonder what exactly is taking Tatsu so long to find the damn flower. He was supposed to call me as soon as he was back in NLA with one, I hope he didn't get lost on the way back or something dumb along those lines.

Well no sense worrying about it now, he'll get there when he gets there. In the meantime I have a couple campfires to watch over.

After Bozé and a few others had gotten all the stuff I needed the fun part had started. Digging out three different fire pits and lining them with spare metal storage racks gave me a barbecue rack of sorts to work with. The fire itself is being provided by three Skell class flamethrowers that we, uh, 'appropriated' for this very purpose. We have them running at something like 1 or 2% power, and even that's providing a very toasty flame to sear the meat with.

Truth be told it wasn't all that hard to actually make the stuff, all I did was rub the collection of spices and herbs into the meat, wrap them in the foil and then set them on the rack.

At this point I'm mostly just playing babysitter along with the meat thermometer that the mess hall back in NLA is probably missing by now (in retrospect, it's a good thing BLADE is a lot more relaxed in their rules than the militaries back on Earth were. By now me and my pals probably would have been court-martialed a dozen times over).

I turn towards Justin and see him happily chatting away with La Duran and Doban Fogor, a Wrothian and Prone from Doug's squad. Of course Bozé would have brought someone like Justin into his group, the guy is about as upstanding a BLADE as you could ask for.

"Hey Justin, you going to introduce me to your new friends yet?"

"Ah Cross! I was just telling Duran and Doban here about you. They were quite skeptical when I said that you were the role model I looked up to!"

Doban looks somewhat embarrassed and she sheepishly says, "There was no offense meant. But Justin is such pure soul that it was hard to believe someone more accepting than him existed."

"Oh don't worry he's still the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He just likes to put me on a pedestal for some reason."

"Only because you inspired me so Cross! Following your career has only encouraged me to push myself even further than I thought I could go."

Oh boy, a groupie. I actually have no idea to respond to this blatant hero worship. It's honestly making me a little uncomfortable.

Thankfully a loud voice cuts through the camp and spares me the necessity of answering Justin's open admission.

"What the heck is this Cross?! You didn't tell me you could cook as well!"

"I live to surprise Doug. And speaking of surprised how the heck did you hide that meat for so long?"

He eyes my barbecuing setup and gives an approving nod.

"Sorry bud, but that's for me to know and for you to wonder."

"You probably just hid them in the main freezer storage and labeled them with every, 'do not touch' warning sticker you could find, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Sheesh. Carry your secrets to the grave then."

* * *

With a satisfied sigh Mia leans back in her chair and smiles lazily.

"I gotta say Chief, you sure know how to do a campfire barbecue right."

"What can I say? I must have been classically trained."

Doug chuckles at that.

"Is that a guess or a fact?"

"Mostly just a joke really, it feels weird actually knowing about my previous life on Earth, I've spent so long just making ridiculous guesses about it."

There's a deathly silence as Doug and Bozé stare at me with mouths open and I realize what just slipped out of my mouth.

Oh well, it's not like it's some state secret anymore. I might as well start letting people know, and my squad is well overdo to know all the details.

Before I get all my thoughts together Bozé suddenly stammers out, "Wait, Cross…that isn't merely a jest is it? You actually recovered your memories?"

I give out a low sigh and take a look around as everyone is trying not to look too eager to hear my story, and failing miserably.

"Well recovered isn't exactly the right word…if anyone wants to know feel free to gather around, this might take a few minutes."

* * *

Just like I predicted after I finish recounting my tale there aren't any smiles or cheers of happiness. Instead everyone is either quietly looking at their shoes or has a look of outright horror and disgust on their face. The Wrothians and Bozé in particular look outraged.

Well the Wrothians I can totally understand. While they're big on the whole 'warrior culture' ideal, they're also insanely up front and honorable. The thought that a group of people took children against their will, brainwashed them into mindless slaves and then sent them off to likely die in the wilds of space is probably as appealing a concept to them as a child rapist is to us.

Kind of an extreme example, but I think it gets the point across.

Bozé is probably horrified by the fact that his star pupil turned out to be some perfectly crafted killing machine, instead of the pure soul he seems to have thought I was.

That particular thought leaves a rather bitter taste in my mouth. My inner thoughts are interrupted as he suddenly stands up and purposely strides toward me, his face an impassive mask.

I try to face him with a stare of my own, but, well…I guess I'm kind of afraid at what he'll say.

What catches me by complete and total surprise is his sudden and affectionate hug.

"Er, Uh, Sensei? You alright Bozé? What are you doing?"

He steps back after a moment and the look of unadulterated fatherly love on his face leaves me speechless.

"Ah, you poor child. Torn from your family, subjected to Kami knows what, then thrown into the middle of a war you had no knowledge of why you were fighting in."

I shift a little uncomfortably.

"You're making it out to be some grand tragedy Sensei, it's not really anything that dramatic. And to be totally honest, I thought you'd be weirded out by what I am."

He frowns and takes a deep breath.

"KATSU! Cross! I did _not_ , not for a _second_ , doubt that your past made you less of a man. In fact, I would say that _in spite_ of your upbringing, you still have shown remarkable strength of spirit and character, far beyond anything I have ever encountered in my life of teaching. I'm proud to have met and befriended you, and even more honored that you consider me your teacher."

Which leaves me with a sizable lump in my throat and nary a single witty comeback. I settle for the simple, if less eloquent, approach.

"Well shucks man…I don't really know how to respond to all that."

Doug snorts at my awkward reply.

"Way to make him almost have a heart attack Bozé…but well said all the same. I'd like to think I speak for everyone else here present when I say that."

There's a chorus of nods around our little camp circle and I hesitantly look towards my group, somewhat wary of what their reactions will be.

I shouldn't have worried.

Mia just gives me a wink and thumbs up, I feel Vi ruffle my hair and Julun gives me a playful punch on the arm. I then feel my hand being held and see Celica looking at me with an amused look on her face.

"You didn't really believe we would be would be unsettled, did you?"

I give a melancholic sigh.

"No, but that still didn't stop the annoying voice in my head from scaring me anyway."

That earns a round of laughs from the surrounding BLADEs and just like that all the tension and gloom is gone. Doug smiles and says, "And you were all worried about how we would feel after you finished your little tale. For what it's worth, I think most people will be sympathetic and not look at you like some creepy Frankenstein monster. THAT SAID…" he slowly cracks his knuckles one at a time, a feature MIM designers left in, while his face loses it's smile and instead deepens into a scowl.

"I think I need to go and have a little chat with Vandham and Nagi about what _else_ they might be hiding."

"I'll be right behind you Barrett, those two had no business sitting on this information for so long."

I look nervously at Bozé and Doug, and realize I should probably try to stop them from being too hard on NLA's guiding lights.

"Uh, guys? While I appreciate the anger on my behalf, I've kinda already forgiven them."

Bozé looks at me with disbelief written all over his face.

"You _what_?"

"I already reached an understanding with them. And I understand why they kept my past a secret, heck, if I was in their position I might have done the exact same thing they did. So if you're going to confront them…well, just try to go a little easy on them."

I get a few blank stares until Bozé sighs defeatedly.

"Your compassion truly knows no bounds, does it my disciple?"

"I like to believe that second chances exist."

Doug gives a frustrated groan and says in an annoyed tone of voice, "Alright alright…we'll give them a chance to explain _before_ we go on a rant. Deal?"

"Deal. And thanks."

Doug rolls his eyes and I barely hear him mutter under his breath, "Freaking goody-two shoes…"

That causes me to burst out laughing.

* * *

"You know Chief, despite all your good natured words and fervent admirers, you're a real bastard of a card shark aren't you?"

I smirk as I take a look at my recent winnings. Guess who's a secret master of Blackjack?

This guy.

"Well Mia, if I told you my secret you would never want to play with me again, and where's the fun in that?"

"Hah! With that level of bluster you're just pulling my leg!…right?…you're not counting cards are you?"

I just evenly stare at her.

"That's no freaking fair Chief! Seriously, I don't get _how_ you're supposed to keep track of fifty plus cards all at once!"

"Well there's your first problem Mia, you're not supposed to keep track of all the cards."

"…Huh?! I thought that's how card counting worked?"

I snicker and reply, "So you thought I was keeping track of fifty-two cards while also holding a conversation? Jesus no, that would be a step or two above impossible for me. Not that it matters, since I still cleaned your clock."

She mutters something along the lines of, 'bloody super soldiers' and I have to fight down a grin.

I take a closer look around the still bustling fortress to see if the other three are on their way over to where Mia and I are waiting. I spot Julun and Celica getting up from where they were chatting with some members of the Doughboys and Hammers, and wave them in our direction.

Julun walks up with a twinkle in her eye and says, "Seen lover boy yet? He is fast worker, no?"

Mia and I turn towards where Julun is pointing and see VI holding both of Gu Ladha's hands and happily conversing with her, the both of them obviously enjoying each others company.

I give a low whistle.

"Is that what they call love at first sight? Or is it soulmates?"

"Does word matter? I say results are enough, no?"

Mia leans over to Julun and whispers not so subtly, "He's a lot more decisive than a certain pal of ours."

Both me and Celica awkwardly shift for a second and I'm momentarily torn between just admitting that I'm planning to ask her out to shut Mia up, or keeping the surprise a surprise.

Screw it, I've kept this under wraps so far, I'm not gonna cock it up now. I instead gently pull Celica closer by the hip and try to convey what I'm thinking through my eyes. She looks confused for a moment but seems to get the message and puts an arm around my waist as well.

Non-verbal communication. It's an amazing thing.

Eventually Vi stops his lovey-dovey conversation with Gu Ladha and heads in our direction.

I smirk as he get's closer and slyly say, "Hey hot stuff, how was your little uh, 'conversation'?"

He manages to keep an unabashed expression and simply replies, "She is a remarkable person, why do you ask?"

Well that's no friggin fun.

Mia rolls her eyes and says, "Come on Julun, us bachelorettes need to stick together. See you tomorrow guys, sweet dreams!"

I holler at her retreating back, "It's that snarky attitude that keeps you from landing a date!"

She flips me the middle finger without even looking back which elicits a chuckle from me. I turn back to Vi and Celica who are looking at me with a bemused look.

"What's with the looks guys?"

Celica gives a dramatic sigh and replies, "It's just amusing seeing you accuse someone else of being 'snarky'. I think the saying is, 'pot calling the kettle black'?"

"I will second that."

I shoot a betrayed look at them as they both nod in agreement.

"Well geez, remind me to never enlist you two in any mocking sessions I partake of. You'll probably just stab me in the back halfway through."

They both ignore me with amused looks on their faces. I sigh in defeat as we start heading towards the temporary sleeping quarters.

Isn't it nice to have friends?

* * *

"Ok real talk here people. Am I the only one who thinks something is strange here?"

I frown at Doug's question as he opens a channel only between squad leaders.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Nothing I can put my finger on. Just com-jits."

My frown deepens into a full on scowl at this point. Com-jits is slang for 'combat jitters', a sort of extrasensory feeling that most soldiers tend to experience, similar to how dogs or birds could sense that an Earthquake was imminent. The problem is that it isn't always easy to distinguish com-jits from just plain old nervousness before battle.

However, Doug's been in the military long enough that I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"James, you got anything on FrontierNav?"

James Davidson is the new leader of the Balmungs, and not too far behind Doug or Bozé in terms of years in the military.

"Negative. Only the same readings we've been getting for the last hour. I know Data Probe coverage is shaky out here on the waves, but this is almost _too_ quiet."

"Sensei? Your take?"

"Hmm…Let's keep approaching the Ganglion base until we can get a visual. But let us approach cautiously. I agree with Barrett. Something seems off about this."

I relay our new plan of approach to my squad and try not to clench my controls too tightly. The twenty Skells of our assault force slow our speed and gain altitude slightly, hoping for a better view of the fortress before we attack it.

We'd departed from the newly christened Alpha base around midday and began our approach towards the next Ganglion outpost (Ganglion patrol rotations seem to designate midday as the time to switch out, for whatever reason). What had started out as a fairly straightforward plan is now reminding me more than a little of how our recent raid in Sylvalum went.

"Contact! Several Ganglion Skell signatures rising from the base!"

I snap my eyes to the information being displayed on my monitor and raise an eyebrow. Fourteen Qmoevas, three Galdr's and two Fal-Swo. Not a particularly impressive force, even accounting for the three Ziggs that are stationed around the fortress. While Garroway and the rest of the ground assault forces aren't with our Skell group, they're hanging back in transports, waiting to airdrop into the base if needed. Heck, we might not even need them.

We can easily pick off the Ganglion from a distance, since Mia and James's Mastemas are packing highly accurate long range weaponry. We'll either force the Ganglion to come to us, away from the Ziggs fire, or whittle them down bit by bit.

Which is why I think something stinks. Things are _never_ that easy, especially since the Ganglion seem to have gotten their collective shit together in these past few weeks.

They wouldn't have come up with such a haphazard response unless that's what they _wanted_ to do.

The problem is there's no immediate threat to worry about. No sudden appearance of enemy units, no sudden loss of communication, and frankly FrontierNav seems to be working just fine.

Doug seems to have agreed with my conclusion as he addresses the whole squad.

"Mia, James, set up for long range bombardment, everyone else, take up sentry positions, keep intervals of no less than one hundred meters at all times. If something approaches us I want to know about before it can start shooting at us!"

A chorus of acknowledgements rings out and we all fly to our positions. James disengages his Hyper-Rail cannon while Mia unlimbers her X-Sniper and prepares to fire. Another ten seconds or so and everything will be ready. I take this opportunity to check on FrontierNav in case we missed anything. Unfortunately it's working just fine, all Ganglion Skells are showing up just fine, even data such as noise level and heat output are show-

Wait. Why is there information on that stuff available? We only get that kind of info when there are several Probes that can work in tandem, and we sure as Hell don't have one in the middle of a freaking Ganglion _fortress_.

I do a quick scan of the data that's being displayed and feel my blood run even colder. The graphs are showing data that's usually found for Ganglion mechs the are at ground level, not hovering dozens of meters in the air.

We've been set up.

"Doug, this is a trap! That Frontier data is faulty, they're deliberately altering it! We need to pull out now!"

There's a second two of tense silence as he no doubt double checks the system just to confirm it, then I hear him spit out a curse with extra vile in it.

"All squads, reenter formations and pull out! Return to base, the Ganglion are pulling a fast one! Move!"

A few weeks ago there would have been hesitation, maybe even a question or two. But after the numerous Ganglion ambushes no one even flinches, instead doing exactly as Doug instructed.

We quickly reform into our five-man squads and jet away from the base as quickly as our Skells can go. I take a glance at our displays and see the Ganglion force that had previously been holding position over the base now suddenly accelerate after us.

Not good news, since they're obviously confident that they can handle us once whatever it is they're planning shows up. Christ I hope we figured out their little trick soon enough.

No such luck.

"Approaching contacts, eight kilometers to our two o' clock! And five readings from our ten o' clock!"

"What type of units are in the new contacts?"

"Ten o' clock has two Seidrs and what looks like three Ziggs on barges of some kind. Two o' clock is…one Fal-Swo, leading thirteen other bogeys and one big one…Thirteen unknowns are Balaena, the larger one is…Oh SHIT, that's _Draken_."

There's a few sharp intakes of breath at the news and I don't blame them. Balaena are massive creatures with extremely thick hides, taking one on in a single Skell isn't exactly something you do if you want to live long enough to draw your pension.

Draken, The Drifting Cloud, is _seven_ times bigger than your average adult Balaena, and has a nasty temper to round out the whole package. The icing on the 'we're so screwed' cake is that it's hide is damn near impenetrable to any weapon short of a Skell class bunker buster warhead, something only three of our machines are packing.

I scowl at the Ganglion's admittedly brilliant maneuver.

Hacking into FrontierNav and feeding false, but at a glance accurate, information led us into thinking it was working fine. Then launching a smaller force than anticipated distracted and made us more cautious, causing us to waste time setting up a careful siege.

That bought them enough time to set up two pincer attacks at equidistant points, basically forcing us into a harsh fight no matter where we go. Pulling all of that off, as well as corralling Mira's Indigens with such precise timing, must take a _very_ cool and composed commander.

I hope I get the opportunity to personally rip this mystery genius's head off in the near future.

"Well guys what do you think? We've got at least a minute before the point of no return."

Doug asking us for our opinion's isn't very encouraging, but I can't really blame the guy. Things do seem pretty bad.

To our slight pleasure we see the Fal-Swo that was leading the Balaena get destroyed in a barrage of molten rock launched from the gullets of several of the creatures. I'll try not to think about the fact that that's exactly what we're going up against in a little bit.

Bozé speaks up with a grim tone to his voice.

"A fighting retreat then. Half of our forces hold off the Ganglion from our initial target, and the rest try to carve a path through the oncoming creatures. We can outrun them if giving enough room."

There's a sullen silence before Doug comes back with, "Alright then, Doughboys, Hammers! We'll stay behind and hold of the pursuing Ganglion! Cross, James. You two try to create an opening in that Indigen horde so we can follow you through, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"You got it Doug. And you'd better bring yourself back dumbass, I do _not_ want to have to be the one to explain to Elma that your sorry ass got blown to pieces by a bunch of Ganglion pansies!"

He chuckles.

"I'll do my best then, good hunting! We'll buy you three minutes!"

With that half of our force slows their speed and gains altitude, preparing for a rearguard action.

I force myself to focus on our target and wonder how the HELL we're supposed to, 'create an opening'. The Balaena are noticing us now and deciding that we're similar enough to the things that were attacking them earlier too be considered a threat.

With several high pitched shrieks that reverberate through the air they start surging towards us, Draken right in their midst.

"Ideas Cross?"

"I was hoping you had one."

"Guess I'll have to disappoint then, I got nothing."

I grunt in acknowledgment and desperately try to think of a way to get these things to take a hike. Ten seconds away from maximum firing range and I can't think of anything beyond playing it by ear.

Great plan, I know.

"James, take your squad and gain a height advantage over the things, we'll dive straight in and try to get their attention."

"Roger that, we'll keep you covered."

I switch over to my squad frequency and try to sound confident.

"Alright guys here's the plan. These things are tough but not the most agile. Try to get in close to their blindspots and make _damn_ sure you don't get anywhere near their mouths. Distract them so James and his guys can hit them with everything they got. Let's do this!"

"Understood!"

I give a small smile at how they don't even ask what the backup plan is, merely assuming I know what I'm doing. Here's hoping that today isn't the day I betray their faith.

My Lailah chimes a warning and I see several flaming rocks vomited from the Balaena come flying our way.

"Break formation! Vi, with me, everyone else pick a target we pass and focus it down!"

Vi's Calador is fast enough to dodge around a lot of the Balaena, and all modesty aside, I'm probably the best pilot in the squad aside from Julun, but then again she's practically driving a tank, not exactly great for hairpin maneuvers.

I focus and take a deep breath, calming my nerves and try to think of a way out of this trap.

With a howl one of the first Balaena tries to bite my machine, but with a gentle roll I scrape by it's maw with maybe a meter to spare. Quickly unlimbering my E-Scythe I activate it and smoothly cut through one of it's float sacs, changing it's enraged scream into one of pain. It's cries are cut short as Celica, Julun, Mia and the Balmung's concentrate their weaponry on the beast and tear it to shreds.

One down, twelve to go. Not counting the Godzilla in the room of course.

Speaking of Draken, it suddenly shifts it's attention to the Balmung's, two hundred meters above and the other Balaena follow suit. I notice several of their gullets contracting and I shout into the audio mike, "Balmungs, you've got incoming!"

Barely half a second after my warning a massive wave of burning grinding stones is expelled from the cloud of Balaena, with Draken firing almost nine boulders in one go. The Balmungs immediately try to juke out of the oncoming hail of rocks, and for the most part succeed, except for one Inferno that takes Draken's deluge head on and is smashed into several flaming pieces.

I bite back a curse. One Skell for one Balaena isn't gonna net us a win, even if our goal was simply to wipe them out. I force myself to think of some kind of plan that doesn't involve a straight up brawl, and come up with nothing.

"Cross, incoming!"

Vi's alert brings me back to the here and now and I jerk on the controls to avoid a sudden lunge from one of the frenzied Balaena. Vi takes advantage of it's momentary distraction and shoves his Calador's Spear into the Indigens eye, causing a panicked bleat to escape from it's maw. And just like last time the ensuring volley of fire blasts huge chunks off of the thing, causing it to spiral lazily to the ocean below, where it crashes through the surface with a massive splash.

Again though, this simply isn't going to work. The Balmungs are using a lot of their heavy weaponry to take these things out, probably twenty percent of the heavy ammo is gone after those two volleys, and they're now down one member.

I fight down the sudden rush of anxiety as Draken yet again looks upwards, all the other Balaena following suit. I start to shout a warning but James beats me to it.

"Balmungs, break formation!"

They do their best to avoid the oncoming barrage but another blast from Draken tears off the arm of a Verus, wobbling the machine. I take a shaky breath and glance back towards the Hammers and Doughboys, and feel my blood run cold. I can vaguely see the contrails of their engines at this distance, and two of them are shining almost five times brighter than the others. They must have activated their machines Overdrives, trying to buy just a little more time.

Which is a death sentence for those two pilots. The Overdrive system is a last resort option when the only other real alternative is dying. By forcing the Skells reactor to insanely high levels of output, the machine can draw upon incredible levels of output, firing weapons both simultaneously and continuously, something that would normally be impossible due to power limitations, as well as reaching abnormally fast flying speeds.

All this power comes with a heavy handicap though. No Skell has thus far been able to last more than a minute in Overdrive state, as the reactor will burn itself out leaving the Skell unpowered and helpless. Even should the pilot be retrieved afterwards, activating a Skell's Overdrive is frowned upon. The sheer power flowing through the machines innards often burns out sensitive systems and damages parts of the reactor, necessitating a complete overhaul of the Skell's internal systems.

At that point it's almost easier to just make a new Skell.

Grimacing I back to our own predicament and once again to try to come up with _something._ The Balaena are back to focusing on my group, and my train of thought is interrupted as I have to dodge a sudden charge by one of the things.

And then James hesitantly speaks up.

"Cross? Have you noticed something strange about the way the smaller Balaena interact with Draken?"

I snarl as I put my machine into a crazed spiral, barely avoiding a stream of molten rock before deploying my Drones to attack the offending party. It flinches away from the darting robots as they tag it with concentrated laser fire.

"They do seem to follow it whenever it's attention is drawn by something, like when they attacked your squad as one."

There's a second of silence that leaves me with a sense of trepidation before James opens a channel to all squads.

"Hammers Doughboys! You've got a way out, start pulling back to our position!"

I gape at his words, wondering what the Hell he has planned.

"Balmungs, as soon as I attract the Balaena's attention, regroup with the other squads and get out of here. It's been an honor guys."

My eyes widen as I suddenly get what he's about to do.

"Balmung Leader, if you're-"

"Cross, I'm counting on you to keep my men safe. Good hunting."

I swallow the lump that's forming in my throat and reply, "Count on it. And remind me to buy you a drink when we drag your suicidal ass out of the Lifehold."

A chuckle.

"I'll do that."

The remaining Balmung members swoop down to join us in our close range duel against the scattered Balaena, while my heads-up display shows the Hammers and Doughboys suddenly disengage from their opponents and come flying towards us as fast as they can. I try not to focus on the fact that only seven machines fly towards us, the eighth suddenly activating it's overdrive and trying to hold off the reduced Ganglion force of eight Qmoevas, one Galdr and one heavily damaged Fal-Swo, if the machines haphazard maneuvering is any indicator.

Looks like Doug and Bozé's squads gave as good as they got.

"Everyone get ready to cover the Hammers and Doughboys when they rejoin us, for now conserve ammo and don't get eaten!"

Easier said than done, but thankfully with all the 'smaller' Balaena surrounding us Draken can't do much more than eye us angrily unless it wants to potentially hurt it's smaller brethren.

Which is when James makes his move. Activating his Mastema's Overdrive he dives down right in front of Draken, which mostly ignores him, intent as it is on the larger group of angrily buzzing machines.

It no doubt stops ignoring him when James aims his F2-Rifle at it's eye and burns a nasty swath through it's eyelid, eliciting an enraged roar from Draken that shakes the very air around it. It's roar is suddenly cut off when James sends a hyper-rail round directly into it's right incisor, blowing it off in a spray of disintegrating blood and enamel, turning it's planet shaking roar into a choking moan.

Hatred clear in it's remaining eyes, Draken surges after James, and the remaining Balaena follow suit, all baying for the machines blood. He quickly dodges their frenzied attempts and accelerates opposite to our direction, and the horde is quick to follow, belching great swathes of flaming debris that he barely avoids.

I heave an internal sigh and make a note to commend James's quick thinking and bravery if we make it back in one piece. Even if we're technically immortal, it ain't easy to just throw away your 'life' like that. Dying still feels pretty real if you ask me.

I cast a glance back towards where the Hammers and Doughboys are flying in from and frown. Their Ganglion pursuers are going to catch up to them soon at the rate they're going, and the two Seidrs are flying in to catch them in a pincer movement.

I scowl and take stock of our available forces. Julun and I still have plenty of missiles left, and Balmung two, Richard I think his name is, has an L-Launcher on his Formula.

"Julun, Richard. I'm going to feed targeting data to your machines. At my command let loose on those bastards."

Both of them reply with a cold eagerness to their tone.

"Ready and waiting."

"Waiting for your command sir."

I track my cursor over the oncoming Ganglion machines and start selecting targets. Three seconds later I link my machine with theirs and say, "Fire."

With a shudder my Lailah looses two Beehive missiles, Richard's Formula fires one Beehive and three Shrapnel Rounds, while Julun's Galdr fires fifty-six of the Ganglions specialized M-Missiles. In all, two hundred and nine missiles suddenly start streaking towards the pursuing Ganglion.

The results are immediate and gratifying in the extreme. The Ganglion mechs immediately kill their forward momentum and start backpedaling, firing wildly into the oncoming tidal wave of warheads. Not a single missile actually connects, but then any actual hits would have just been a happy coincidence.

The Ganglion lost enough time trying to shoot down our barrage that the Hammers and Doughboys managed to regroup with us so that we can be on our way with no lost time. My heart drops as I notice Gu Ladha's Calador being supported by Doug and Boze's Skells, it's left arm gone and a massive crater slightly to the side of where the pilot's seat is. I want to ask if she's alright, but that'll have to wait until we're in the clear.

I glance back and see the Ganglion getting ready to resume their chase, clearly hoping to take advantage of our need to carry disabled units. I curse under my breath and start doing a quick mental calculation of how far we'll make it before they catch up to us…before my audio sensors pick up a truly pissed off scream. Cranking my neck around I can't help but savagely grin as I see Draken and it's cronies come barreling towards the ganglion line, Hell bent on tearing them to pieces.

During our retreat we put enough distance away from the Balaena so that they would likely ignore us, but the Ganglion pursuit put them close enough so that the Indigens would be reminded why they would be so maddened in the first place.

My smile falters as I remember why the Balaena would be heading back our way in the first place. James's machine probably gave out pretty quick, even if he did lead them on a merry chase for awhile.

That said, I think he would be laughing right about now if he saw how his little distraction ended up screwing the Ganglion over, however inadvertently. I smirk as one of the Seidrs get's pummeled by Draken's trademark rock vomit and spirals out of control into the ocean, while the rest of the machines are trying to desperately disengage.

You reap what you sow.

* * *

The return to Alpha Base isn't the glorious, triumphant return we were hoping for. If anything it's frantic and more than a little subdued. Twenty machines set out, and only fifteen made it back, a full quarter of the group wiped out. Two of them are never coming back, a prone by the name of Doban Fogor, and a Wrothian called La Duran, two people that I met for a grand total of maybe five minutes last night.

You'd think that would soften the blow.

The other three were Humans, one of them I hardly knew at all, one of them I didn't know, but now wish I had, and one I'm going to miss more than I'll admit.

Keith, the Balmung who was taken out in Draken's initial volley.

James, the quick witted leader who saved us all with some very fast thinking.

Then Justin. Good old Justin, who volunteered to stay behind and allow the Hammers and Doughboys to live to fight another day, holding off a Ganglion force that outnumbered him ten to one.

To vastly understate and trivialize how I'm feeling right now…this sucks.

One silver lining to this bloody mess is that Gu Ladha is still alive. Vi had practically teleported from his Calador to her machine and was the first to help the rescue crews extradite her. I wince as her arm comes into view, crushed and mangled beneath who knows how many tons of metal. Despite the massive injury I don't quite miss the relieved look on her face as Vi immediately tries to help her onto a crash stretcher, obviously on the verge of panic at her condition.

He doesn't need to worry so much though. She'll likely get issued a prosthetic arm at some point, being a part of Bozé's squad and everything. Heck, with the Orphean and Ma-non's healing tech, she might just be able to regrow the arm entirely, given time.

It's sweet of him to worry though.

I breathe out rather shakily as I power down my Lailah and a swarm of mechanics descend on our Skells. I hop down and move to regroup with the rest of my squad, when I notice something rather disquieting about my right hand.

It's shaking.

I frown and perform one of my breathing exercises, willing myself into a calm state of mind.

It doesn't help. If anything, it's shaking even worse than before I tried to relax myself. I take a deep breath and try not to let the sudden surge of fear get the better of me.

Operative word: try.

Not having control over my body is terrifying in a way no Indigen or Xeno could ever be. What's worse is that it's probably a result of my own shaky mental state. If my mind is going then-

I grit my teeth and kill the thought before it fully forms. I will _not_ be weak in front of those who are struggling with their own personal demons.

I _can't_.

Bozé. Bozé might have been hit hard by the loss and wounding of another one of his students. I should check on him. I turn on my heel and spin away from my squad before walking in his direction.

I walk up beside him as he talks to the mechanics in a tired voice and put a hand, the non-shaking one, on his shoulder.

"Sensei, are you all right?"

He halts his conversation and turns around. His face is tired, but otherwise composed. And while he both looks and sounds exhausted, there is no resignation or sign of defeat in them.

"Thank you for checking up on me son…This was a loss, yes. But we were not exterminated, and our comrades sacrifices will allow us to avenge them a hundredfold. So yes, I know what you are asking, and yes, I am once again saddened that I was unable to prevent the death of those under my care. But it was you yourself that once taught me that devoting myself entirely to revenge or despair is the height of foolishness. I will not fall into that same trap again. How is your squad holding up?"

I get a sick twist in my gut as I realize I had completely just blown them off as I was freaking out. I don't even know if they're hurt or waiting for me to give them orders.

Bozé seems to get the gist of this from the look on my face and for a moment disappointment clouds his face. The look disappears as he notices my still shaking right hand and his face softens.

"Go to them, son. It might put you at ease."

I breathe out and try to fight back my rising sense of self-loathing.

"I'll do that Sensei. Thanks."

I turn around and half run back to where our Skells are parked.

What the fuck is _wrong_ with me right now?! Disregarding some of my closest friends, trying to distract myself from my own obviously degrading mental state…some leader I am.

I arrive in a hurry when all of the sudden I hear a shout.

"Cross! What the Hell, there you are!"

I look around me just in time to catch Mia's fist connecting with my shoulder, knocking me back and almost causing me to fall down.

"Jesus Mia, a simple hello would be ok."

"It's your fault Chief! You just up and disappeared after we landed, we thought something happened! Celina ran off after Vi, she though maybe you went with him, what happened?"

I take a deep breath and look her and Julun who just arrived square in the eyes.

"Nothing important. And I owe you two an apology. For just up and leaving like that."

Julun waves off my words.

"Hardly matter Cross. We know you meant no harm. Celica will want to kick your ass though."

I wince at the thought of that ensuring debacle and sigh.

"It's a kicking I kinda deserve."

As if summoned by my thoughts I feel a foot connect with my right cheek and I turn around to find a very pissed off Celica and somewhat bemused Vi.

"And just _where_ did you wander off to?"

"I…went to check on Bozé."

Mia rolls her eyes.

"The dumbass was trying to _apologize_ for checking on his friends, Celica. I swear the guy never learns."

I can't help but turn my eyes downcast. If only they knew just how badly I had failed to keep my cool. And here they are, trying to comfort me.

Celica heaves a huge sigh and gives a small smile as she walks behind me and then pushes me towards the medical station.

"Well then, let's go and visit Vi's girlfriend and see if she's alright then. Shall we?"

Vi rolls his eyes but doesn't quite manage to stop from smiling. I give an inward groan at how quickly these people are to just ignore what could have been a potential failure on my part and just carry on like nothings wrong. I glance down at my right hand, and notice that it's shaking a lot less than before.

* * *

Nahum repressed the urge to vocalize her sigh, instead settling for throwing the data pad onto her temporary desk with slightly more vehemence than was necessary. Their plan to ensnare and eliminate the Human's advance forces had turned on it's head, and with spectacular suddenness.

The first part had gone flawlessly. After realizing the Humans were attempting to slowly advance on Sylvalum one outpost at a time, she had quickly devised a plan of action for the garrison that was stationed on the island. Everything had gone perfectly at first.

The vermin hadn't noticed their network being compromised, luring the beasts from their ocean nests had gone perfectly, and reinforcements form other holdouts had arrived to bolster the standing garrison.

Unfortunately the battle had largely gone the Human's way from there. They seemingly realized that their 'FroniterNav' had been compromised and immediately started to retreat. Their sudden withdrawal didn't allow them to completely slip through the encirclement, but it had given them the option of only fighting one force at a time, instead of all three at once. A vicious rearguard action by half of their force had stalled the main Ganglion attack while the other half had fooled the simple minded Indigens into chasing a single machine, clearing a path for the retreat. That in itself wasn't a complete disaster, but luck hadn't favored her plan at the very end.

Which was completely understandable, if she were to be honest with herself. The ocean beasts had been an unknown factor, and it was with some trepidation that she had decided to make use of them. While they had initially served their purpose quite well, destroying some of the Human Skells, they had been far stupider than she planned, being fooled by a painfully simple maneuver and letting the Humans get away.

She should have signaled a retreat after that, keeping the losses between her forces and the Humans relatively even. But she had tasted blood in the water and ordered a pursuit.

Which of course was then sidelined by the massive beasts return. They had destroyed three more Qmoevas and damaged a Seidr before the more mobile machines could run away. The three Ziggs, on their cumbersome transport barges, were quickly dismantled, putting the kill-to-loss ratio firmly in the Human's favor.

Standing up and pushing her chair back with disgust she walked out onto the mesa that comprised most of Anvil Rock One, and felt a subtle excitement start to rise in her chest. She had started gathering most of the remaining Ganglion forces available from Cauldros and Sylvalum, sending additional orders to the last few holdouts in Noctilum and Oblivia. Almost sixty percent of all remaining Ganglion forces on Mira were now preparing for a massive campaign of extermination, planning to wipe the Human's and their allies off of the planet.

The time for reactionary plans and subtle ambushes was over. It was time to strike at the Humans while they still had an advantage, both in numbers and, ever so slightly, technology.

None of her military advisors ever spoke about this out loud, but they all knew about it. The Humans and their newfound friends had improved their military technology and quantity at an _astounding_ rate, especially given their extreme circumstances in landing on a hitherto unknown planet with nothing but the technology on their backs.

Conservative estimates stated that in less than a year the Humans would surpass the Ganglion in both military tech and numbers. Given that timeframe, Nahum had realized that the sooner they were rid of the Humans, the safer they were. Their Skell technology in particular had advanced in leaps and bounds, at this point she wasn't above admitting that toe-to-toe, their average machine outperformed the Ganglion's standard Qmoeva frame. The Ganglion would have to play the odds and gamble everything on one decisive assault.

"Mistress. Nardacyon has arrived as per your instructions."

She nodded.

"Show me."

Following her adjutant she was led to a newly arrived Skell containment trailer, which slowly opened with the hiss of releasing hydraulics. The shadows pulled back slowly, revealing a giant Skell of the Almandal type. Covered with black and gold highlights, the machine cut an imposing figure, both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

This was Nardacyon, what some of the Ganglion liked to refer to as, 'The Shadowless', due to it's odd color scheme that combined light and dark into one.

It was also _hers_. She had painstakingly upgraded her already impressive Skell over the years with leftover parts from many a conquered enemy. Wrothian, Prone, and more recently some interesting schematics of the Vita's systems had found their way onto her machine. As a matter of fact, the onboard A.I. and controls were so delicately tuned to her preference that she doubted anyone else could pilot the machine without years of practice.

She loved it the same way some of the weaker species of the universe loved their children.

Whatever her personal feelings towards the machine were was irrelevant. What mattered now was that very soon the Ganglion would march on the vermin stronghold and raze it to the ground.

No matter the cost.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **Wait...did I just keep a self-imposed deadline?! Holy crap that's a first. Hmm...I was gonna talk about something until that distracted me...**

 **Oh right! The overdrive mechanics! Well obviously in game the way overdrive works in Skells makes perfect sense, but if you try to think about in real world terms it's kind of a mess. Using power and shooting your gun makes your machine ultra-powerful? Oh if only...**

 **But yah, that's mostly it in terms of things I wanted to clarify.**

 **As always, thanks to those who are still hanging around and reading my work! You guys da best!**


	8. Chapter 8: Prelude to WarAnd a Date

Ch 8: Prelude to War…and a Date

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

― **Henri J.M. Nouwen** , **Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life**

"Last time I saw this much brass I was in a museum showcasing old bathrooms."

"Second-hand though, right?"

"Well duh. Dunno how that particular bit of info made it onto the Lifeholds, but there it is."

"Well obviously it's of critical importance that Humanity know of the benefits of using brass when building a crapper."

"Ah, I should have known. The future where our asses are chilled by metal instead of hardened plastic and porcelain must not be far off."

"Keep it down you two, the meeting's starting!"

Me and Doug share a glance at Wolf's growl and then turn our attention to the center stage.

Three days after the halted advance on Sylvalum a massive meeting is being held in the BLADE cafeteria. More than a hundred people are in attendance, Humans and Xenos alike.

I spot more than a few familiar faces throughout the crowd, such as Kirsty, Tobias, Hugo, Tan' Celeg, Veven, Ackwar, Sun'Barac, Sevvy Belgazus, Elder Nan and pretty much everyone who was part of the initial Squad formation plan I was a part of. This many people in one room can only mean one thing.

The Ganglion are knocking, and they're doing it with a hammer, not a fist.

I give a small shake of my head and focus as Chausson, Nagi, Vandham and Eleanora all walk onto the slightly elevated platform that holds a massive holographic display. My nightmares have still been sticking with me, and I was almost ready to check in with a psychiatrist until the meeting was announced, which put things on the back burner.

Clearing his throat Chausson speaks up, his voice amplified by a hidden boom mike.

"I thank you all for coming, we have much to discuss and not much time to do it, so we will appreciate it if all questions are held until our initial explanation is complete. Is that understood?"

There's a brief murmur of acknowledgments and Chausson nods to Nagi, who steps forward with a serious expression on his face.

Well…more serious than usual at least.

"Let's not mince words here. The Ganglion have mobilized almost four-fifths of their remaining mechanized forces, and as of this moment are congregating in Sylvalum's Anvil Rock One stronghold."

While there's a few unhappy murmurs, most of the crowd seem to have already heard about this in one form or another. The rumor mill is running at full power it seems.

"We believe that in a short time they will launch from said fortress and begin to advance on NLA, with the intent of wiping out the city entirely. Our best estimates place the final Ganglion total, once all their forces combine, at one hundred twelve Qmoeva frames, forty Galdrs, twelve Seidrs, four Quos, thirty-six Fal-Swo, and four Xern's."

There's a stunned silence once Nagi finishes his rundown of the Ganglion numbers, and I feel my jaw clench. While the Qmoevas may not be anything too special, all the other variants, never mind the goddamn mobile _fortresses_ that the Xerns are, will seriously tilt the odds in the Ganglion's favor. I do a quick bit of math in my head, accounting for Skells that need to stay and defend NLA, stand guard at the Lifehold Core, and machines that are currently damaged and being repaired right now.

It ain't pretty.

At the most we'll be able to field around a hundred or so Skells, roughly half of the Ganglion's Skell forces, and that's discounting their variety of machines and simply going by the numbers.

Man we are _so_ screwed.

Quickly speaking up Nagi raises his voice and says, "That is not all. To cover some of the Ganglion's more specific strengths I hand this conference over to Slovity Pagus, Erio and Lyvia. They have been spying and raiding the Ganglion for many weeks now, and have important information for us."

I shift my gaze over to where Nagi is pointing and see two Definians alongside a Prone woman walking onstage.

Slovity is looking even more imposing than she was before, with her skin darkened a bit by Mira's sun, and a freshly acquired scar running down the side of her face. Clearly she's been quite the busy body.

Erio and Lyvia appear pretty much the same as always, although they're currently wearing their Human disguises, so it's kinda hard to tell exactly how much they might have changed, if at all.

"Greetings fellow warriors of NLA. As Secretary Nagi says, there is much to talk about."

I don't quite manage to hide my smile at Slovity describing everyone in the room as a 'warrior'. The idea of Elder Nan firing a gun at a Grex leaves me chuckling.

Tapping in a few commands to the projection board a succession of images pop up, showcasing several different Ganglion military machines and an overlay of Mira.

"Newest information from raids suggest Ganglion gathering forces from all over planet. Prisoners and freed slaves from raids gave numbers. Other information from computers gave more specific details. Ganglion will launch attack in eight days at earliest. No sooner."

There's more mutters once she gives the deadline. Eight days isn't much time to prepare for the end of the world. Erio and Lyvia step forward with nervousness at being the center of attention evident on their faces, Lyvia in particular.

"T-the information we got from the Ganglion network is quite detailed. W-we, uhh, we…"

I shout, "You're doing great Lyvia!", and there's a few scattered laughs throughout the crowd as she and Erio both shift awkwardly.

It's sort of a public secret that the two Definians have a bit of an infatuation with me, for some reason I've never really picked up on. Taking over Lyvia's spot as she tries to find her voice Erio picks up the thread of the conversation, enlarging each image as she begins to speak about it.

"We discovered a list of all of the Ganglion's active military forces as well as their current leaders. We also discovered some rather disquieting information about certain machines that will be taking part of the assault on the city. Firstly, the Xern that was Luxxar's own private base. From what we've been able to glean, this Xern has heavier armor and is about half again as large as a standard Xern. The more worrying of these behemoths is leva'el, The Terminus. While it was originally no different than any other Orion-type Xern, The Ganglion have taken advantage of recovered Vita weaponry, specifically it's Satellis drones. If the specs are to be believed, the shield offered by this Satellis will render bombardment by almost all known weaponry largely useless."

While sucky, that seems like a fairly accurate assessment. During the fight in the Lifehold Core, the Vita's little drones had created a shield that withstood constant barrages from seven Skells with no discernible drop in shield strength. While the Drone itself had been easy to destroy, I don't think that it's going to be so simple this time around. Getting enough machines through a Xern's defensive gun arrays to destroy the Sattelis and then take on the Xern itself would be an expensive undertaking.

Again, that's ignoring the two-hundred other Ganglion that'll only be too happy to shoot you down as you perform the equivalent of a Death Star trench run.

Without the force to help you.

I heave an internal sigh and focus back on the meeting. Lyvia said that there were three things we had to be worried about, and trouble does seem to come in threes.

"The last war potential is a Skell of the Almandal variety. The Ganglion refer to it as Nardacyon, the Shadowless. This Skell has quite the history behind it, and none of it good. The current pilot is a Milsaadi called Nahum, and she is currently the leader of the Ganglion, as well as the architect of the Ganglion's recent change in tactics. The machine itself is _very_ powerful, and has been involved in dozens of Ganglion subjugations. Each time it conquers a species, Nahum has added additional enhancements to the Skell, adding only the best to Nardacyon in order to make it an amalgamation of each species strengths. Nahum herself is a phenomenal pilot and should not be underestimated…if I were to compare the machines performance to the Skells we currently use…I would say that it easily equals twenty such machines."

I glare at the gold and black highlighted machine with disgust. This time there's no small mutters or uncomfortable shifting of weight. Half the room seems to start talking at once, a few people even shouting in dismay.

Which I can totally understand, since all this new information seems to do is confirm the, 'Oh shit, we're so dead' line of thought. I'll keep my panic to a minimum until Nagi and the rest finish their briefing though.

"Everyone remain calm. Yes, this is hardly good or hopeful news, but at least we are forewarned of it and can plan appropriately. And don't worry, we have a solution to these seemingly insurmountable odds. Vandham? If you will."

Crossing his arms Vandham steps up to the display and drawls, "Alright people listen up and stop being such a bunch of scaredy-cats. First things first. Nardacyon. A pretty nasty machine right? Well we got one of our own."

My eyebrow shoots up, probably with a lot of other people's as well.

The only machine that leaps to mind is the Prog Ares, and last I checked it was a total wreck, sequestered away in the bowels of the restricted hangar. But is it worth twenty machines on it's own? I mean Elma, Lin and myself took it down on our own, I dunno exactly how high-spec it is.

I turn back towards Vandham who's wearing a predatory grin the size of a building.

"And we have just the pilot for it. I'll put cold hard cash on our new model knocking the crap out of this Nardacyon or whatever."

I see Wolf raise his hand.

"So who's this magical pilot?"

I'm kinda wondering about this myself. I take a glance around the room and see plenty of potentials. Elma and Irina are top contenders obviously but Doug has-

Why is everyone staring at me?

I glance toward the stage and see everyone with an expectant look on their face.

"You're joking."

"Nope."

"Then you're crazy."

"Pretty sure we're not kiddo."

I hear a few chuckles from the audience and immediately scowl.

"Why _me_? For crying out loud you have people like Doug and Irina here! Oh, and that one person who showed us how to build the things in the first place, what was her name? Oh right, ELMA."

Vandham just laughs while Nagi and Chausson smile.

"Kiddo, we ran this by the people you just listed off. They were all in favor of this."

I try not to gape at the three of them, although Doug is close enough to me that he see's my gaping expression and snorts. Irina and Elma are also grinning at my shocked reaction.

Elma speaks in a reassuring voice, "As one of the people who 'built the things' as you put it, I think I'm quite qualified to decide who's best for the job. You're it Cross."

I open my mouth to respond and then resignedly shut it with a sigh. If everyone is actually on board with this then I'm only gonna look like more of an idiot arguing against something that's already decided.

Triumph in his voice Vandham looks away and speaks to the room at large.

"Alright with that out of the way we got any more questions before we go over the rest of the plan?"

I hear a voice near the back of the room ask, "Have the Ganglion been locked out of FrontierNav? That's played a crucial part in their recent victories."

Vandham nods towards Kirsty and she stand with her face equal parts ashamed and pissed.

"After going over FrontierNav's security systems and periodic reports, we realized that the Ganglion we're using a data probe we thought destroyed to access the system and alter it from within."

Her eyes flash and there's a definite hint of steel in her voice.

"I promise you, the Ganglion will _not_ be accessing FrontierNav anytime soon."

Seeing as how Kirsty treats FrontierNav as her own flesh and blood, I don't think anyone disbelieves her.

Vandham glances around the room.

"Anyone else?"

Silence.

The predator grin returns as he continues with, "In that case, let's move on to how we're gonna deal with those Xerns, eh?"

He taps the control panel with one meaty finger and a new schematic shows, showing several different Skell class weapons that I haven't seen before.

I take a closer look at the things and feel my eyes narrow in approval.

Yah, _those_ babies are gonna cause some pain.

* * *

After the meeting is dismissed I move to talk with Vandham and Nagi.

I notice Vandham smirk at me as I draw closer. He probably already knows what I want to talk about.

"Lemme guess, you want to now if we're _absolutely_ sure that you're the right guy for the job?"

"Well the entire room seemed to be onboard with it," I respond wryly, "so I can't exactly argue now can I? Actually I came by to check when this mystery machine is gonna be available for some test flights. Unless you're planning on having me get some on the job training, courtesy of several angry Ganglion."

Nagi smiles at my joke and replies, "It should be ready in another day or two. We'll send you a message as soon as possible."

"Got it. But what's up with all the sparse details? No name, picture, specs or anything. Is this Skell really that big of a secret?"

Vandham shrugs.

"Not particularly, but the less chances the Ganglion have of finding out any information on it is better for us. But mostly I just want it to be a surprise for you."

I roll my eyes as Vandham grins and Nagi resignedly sighs.

* * *

About two hours after the meeting I decided to go ahead and catch up on some more reading, which I've honestly fell behind on the past few weeks. I pick up my reading tablet and take a look at my 'to do' list and tab through what's on the top of my chart. The _Old Man's War_ series, _A Song of Fire and Ice_ …my attempt at making a decision is halted once my comm starts beeping, clamoring for my attention.

Throwing aside the device I take a look at the caller I.D. and feel a thrill of anticipation in my chest.

Tatsus calling.

Stabbing the accept button I immediately ask, "Do you have it?!"

He responds with more than a little annoyance in his voice.

"Yes friend, Tatsu has special flower. Took many days and many close calls, many run ins with dangerous beasts and several sleepless nights…but yes. Tatsu has friend's stupid flower."

I can't stop the childish grin that spreads across my face.

"You rock buddy!"

"No, Tatsu is not Rock, Tatsu is Tatsu!"

I roll my eyes at the Nopon's shaky understanding of Human expressions and instead ask, "So where are you right now? Are you in the city?"

"Yes, Tatsu is outside friends bear racks, where is friend right now?"

"Close enough. Stay right there."

A few minutes later I spot Tatsu loitering in front of L's shop, perusing the usual shmorgishborg of things the eccentric Xeno comes up with. The variety has gone down the past few weeks since the guy is still who knows where with Professor B, but that merely means there's a ton of bizarre stuff leftover, as opposed to a surplus.

"The Hibiscus wasn't enough, now you want even more exotic crap?"

"Hmph! Friend Cross obviously doesn't appreciate lengths Tatsu went to retrieve gift! Perhaps Tatsu just leave without giving Cross what he wants!"

My smile transforms from friendly to predatory.

"Oh? Well if you're not here to actually deliver anything, then I can always let Vandham know that a Nopon courier just arrived in the city who has nothing better to do. Heck, you're our liaison to the Dodonga Caravan. I'm certain they'll have you out of the city within minutes, carrying all sorts of things that have to be delivered physically. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

The look of abject horror on his face is reply enough, and he quickly searches his backpack for my order. A few seconds later he produces a fairly plain wood box, about a third of a meter length and width.

"Friend Cross is perfect fiend… " he mutters as he passes it to me.

"Don't worry Potato Head, I told Lin you would be back and guess what? She's making dinner just for you spud bud."

His eyes light up this.

"Hoo hoo! Lin Lee feast is happening! Tatsu see you later!"

He sprints off and I can't help but roll my eyes at his bipolar nature. Turning my attention to the box I gently cradle it and slowly lift the lid.

It's _beautiful._ The pure white petals are unblemished, while the veins of the flower glow with a silver shimmer, creating a crystal lattice like structure that glints in the sunlight.

There's a reason I chose a Hibiscus apart from every other flower on this planet. Apart from their rarity, Hibiscus are almost alarmingly resistant, despite their fragile looking beauty.

The Nopon like to brag that Hibiscus are immortal, as long as you take care to submerge their roots in water once a week and expose them to plenty of sunlight.

Given most Nopon's penchant for saying almost anything that'll get them a sale aside from an outright lie, I assume 'immortality' means a few centuries instead of forever. Which is close enough I guess, since most species we know of tend not to live for more than a few hundred years.

Personally I'll just be happy if I make it to my midlife crisis.

Excitedly placing a call on my comm to Celica I wait a few seconds while it rings before I get an answer.

"Cross? To what do I owe this pleasure?"

She sounds slightly out of breath, so she must have just finished her routine work out session. I try not to let the image of her wearing her usual tight fitting workout spandex eclipse my thoughts, and don't quite succeed.

Easy does it tiger.

"I was wondering if you're busy at all today, I have something to talk to you about."

"Unfortunately I'm busy for the next three or so hours, but Rock and I will be at Deliverance Park after that. Do you wish to meet then?"

"I'd be more than happy to do so. See you then?"

"Not even providing a hint?" she asks with a sly smile, "Very well, I'll see you then."

I hang up and feel a tingle crawl up my spine. Is that excitement? Nervousness?

Probably a mix of both.

* * *

I let out a shaky breath and turn towards Rock, who's currently carrying several different tables and chairs.

"Do you think he suspected anything Rock?"

"I dunno" he says as he scratches behind his ear, "He certainly seemed to buy it. Dunno how he could have figured out anything really. Don't worry about it Celica, let's just focus on getting everything set up, alright?"

I look at the familiar faces helping set up several different plates of food and drinks and can't help the delighted smile that crawls up my face.

Cross won't know what hit him.

* * *

The weather couldn't be any more perfect for this little confession I have planned. Clear skies aside from a few drifting clouds, a balmy twenty-one degrees and a pleasant breeze to top it all off.

At least Mira's on my side for this.

"Looking for someone?"

I smile as Celica suddenly appears at my right elbow, somehow sneaking up on me.

Which is kinda weird when you consider what I was raised to be, but whatever.

"Indeed I was. She's a very pretty young woman who has a sharp wit to match her beauty."

She smirks and replies, "Then I am at your service. Flattery aside, although I do enjoy that, you needed to talk to me about something?"

I dryly swallow my nervousness and say, "Yah actually…mind if I ask where Rock is first?"

"Oh he's farther down the park. Want to meet up with him?"

"Yah, what I wanted to talk about actually concerns him as well, so…"

She raises an eyebrow but doesn't ask any more questions, instead linking her arm in my own and leading me towards the heart of the park. I push my nervousness aside and simply enjoy the feeling of her arm and my own touching.

We walk along in silence for a few minutes before my gut starts to tell me that something's amiss.

"Celica," I carefully begin "Are you leading me into something dangerous that I should be aware of?"

'Dangerous? Of course not. Well…at least not for me."

With a happy smile on her face there's a sudden shout of, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

I'm temporarily at a loss for words as more than a dozen people I know suddenly shout at me, and I barely manage to catch a cylindrical shaped hat that's chucked at me. I shoot Celica a shocked glance and she breaks out laughing at my shocked expression.

"So _this_ is what you were busy with…"

"Me and everyone else here that is."

I'm kind of at a loss for words here. Elma, Lin, Doug, Hope, Irina, Frye, Phog, Gwin, Vi, Julun, Mia, Rock, Tatsu and Yelv are all standing around the several tables laden with food and drinks, all wearing the same self-satisfied smirks at my toungue-tiedness. Frye saves me from my awkward moment though.

"Quit standing there and head on over man! I'm starving!"

I snort and reply, "I'm curious where you found my birth certificate though. I figured that thing would be under lock and key."

Hope looks rather sheepish and says, "Well we didn't find anything like that really…we figured the easiest date to go by would be when you were first awakened from the stasis pod, but we missed that day already, so we decided better late than never?"

I smile as Hope starts to look worried that maybe I won't appreciate what they're doing. As if.

"Well I can't argue with that logic, besides that means my next Birthday will come even sooner. Or at least whenever we get a calendar for this planet."

There's more than a little truth to that statement. Mira has a much longer rotation around it's sun than Earth does, roughly two and half times as the best guess puts it at. That made the Earth calendar useless, so NLA is currently in the process of making a new Miran almanac, hopefully one that everyone will get used to. Most people figured we could just borrow the Nopon's calendar, but that idea was quickly abandoned once it became clear that all the caravans had their own specific calendars, none of which resembled each other and often had completely conflicting information.

My thought's are interrupted as I'm suddenly dragged by Yelv over to the center table, where there's an impressive looking cake sitting in the middle. I snort as I see the icing's decoration. There's a midget sized Formula with the quote, 'Sugar is good for your Skell-eton!' drawn in the center.

That must be Lin's handiwork. Slapping my back Yelv happily shouts, "Happy first birthday pard! Congrats on making it through your first year!"

Gwin smirks as he puts a single candle onto the center of the cake and I raise an eyebrow at all the alcohol on the nearby tables.

"Is it a good idea to give a one year old booze?"

"You never drink anyway man."

"Fair point. All though I think that's mostly because Frye monopolizes it all."

Lin claps her hands and then shouts, "Alright everybody time for the birthday song! Then feel free to help yourselves!"

I take a look around and notice all the Xeno attendees except for Elma looking lost at Lin's mention of the 'birthday song'. I guess they forgot about that little detail didn't they?

* * *

"Aaaahhhh…that hit the spot, lemme tell yah."

"I'm surprised at how much solid food you actually went through Frye. Normally you just stick to a mostly liquid diet at parties."

"Ha! I'm with your little brother on this one Frye, normally you don't bother with anything you spend more than a few seconds chewing!"

Doug, Gwin, Vi and Rock all lean toward me and Gwin whispers, "Are they always like this?"

"Believe it or not, this is one of their more relaxed conversations. Not to mention all of the furniture is still intact. Well except for that one chair."

Rock grins sheepishly.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going to carefully and, well…"

I smile and swat his massive leg.

"Don't worry about it pal, I think you constructing several buildings and roads on the whole balances out pulverizing the occasional chair."

Vi laughs and says, "What was it one of your authors said? Re-arranging the furniture is the key to life?"

"Beats me. Haven't heard that one before. I guess that would make Rock a minor god, and drunk Frye ruler of the universe."

That earns a few more laughs and Doug turns to me.

"Sorry we couldn't get more people to show up, but what with the upcoming battle and everything only a few of us had this afternoon with nothing to do."

"Considering that I wasn't expecting anything like this in the first place, all I can say is you guys are the best. And by the way, what the heck is up with you guys giving me this super badass Skell everyone is talking about? I still think Elma would have been a way better choice."

"If we were going by raw piloting skill, then yah. Me, Irina and definitely Elma would have been better choices. But we still went with you. Wanna guess why?"

"Rougish charm?"

"Adaptability. While the three of us may be better pilots, even if only by a bit, that's with our _current_ generation of Skells. I can't get too far into detail, mostly because I don't know too much myself, but this new model is a whole different beast. New controls, new engines, new weapons. Even for Elma this thing is new territory. We need someone who's both a fast learner and a good pilot. That's you pal."

"Well I'm honored to be the Guinea Pig then. And thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Anytime bud."

"Well with all the touchy feely crap out of the way…let's talk about touchy feely crap! Pard! I hear you still haven't asked Celica out. What gives man!"

I turn to Yelv who apparently snuck on over with Frye and Phog when I wasn't looking, an expectant look on his face.

"Well I actually have that covered Yelv, but you mind telling me who it was that suggested this little intervention?"

I take a look around me at the semicircle everyone's formed and quirk an eyebrow in Vi's direction. I think I have my first culprit.

He raises his hand's peaceably and easily replies, "It wasn't me, but rather it was Rock who suggested doing this."

I don't even come close to hiding my surprise and look over my shoulder at the massive Xeno, who's awkwardly scratching his head.

"Well Celica likes to talk about you, and you helped the both of us since we first arrived in the city so…"

I feel a slight blush of embarrassment rise to my cheeks and ignore the amused looks around me.

"Rock" I say gently, "I really do appreciate your frankness, but if Celica and I _do_ end up in a relationship, you know that that might change the dynamic between the two of you."

He simply smiles.

"I know, and I'm sort of hoping for that."

I give him an incredulous look.

"Well you see, Celica has always been looking out for me ever since we met. She's spent so much of her life working towards my happiness, I sometimes worry that she ignored her own. She doesn't need to keep looking after me now that we no longer have to run from the Ganglion."

I frown and am about to speak when Frye growls and says, "Listen here big guy, I can't pretend to know you two as well as Cross does, but I _do_ knowsomething about family, and how it works. Does Celica really seem like the type of person who would consider it a burden or hassle to help someone who was really in need of it?"

"Well no but-"

"Then case closed! You're not an unnecessary burden on her, and even if you were, that's what family sometimes _is._ Maybe you get angry with each other over a misunderstanding, maybe you feel like a drag on their life, and sometimes you even hurt them through your own stupidity. But you don't just cut them off and pretend they don't exist! You try to help them as much as they've helped you, end of story!"

He's quiet for a moment as he realizes we're all looking at him and then embarrassedly coughs.

"I uh, might have gone off on a bit of an unrelated tangent there. Sorry."

Phog chuckles and gently says, "It sounded like one born of personal experience."

"Yah alright laugh it up little bro, I'll let you have this one."

Snorting to myself I look back at Rock, who still seems to be in a mild state of shock.

"Maybe not the most eloquent of ways to put it, but Frye's absolutely correct Rock. It's fine if you want Celica to not, 'look after you' anymore, but don't you dare do so because you think she's tired of doing it."

Rock's silent for a few moments before he gives an odd hitching growl that makes us all jump in our seats. It isn't until I see him wipe away a tear as big as my bicep that I realize the big lug is actually crying.

"T-thanks guys, I n-never really had anyone say it to me like that before…"

The girls look over at us in concern from their table a couple of meters away and I give a thumbs up in their direction.

Shrugging, they go back to their conversation and I breathe out a quick breath. Crisis averted.

Rock gets ahold of himself and takes a deep breath as we all pat him on whatever limb is closest. I shake my head at how ridiculous this must look. A bunch of humanoids a tenth of Rock's size all crowded around him and trying to calm him down while he sobs his eyes out. Aye Caramba.

That out of the way Gwin looks at me and asks, "So now that you've earned the families approval, have conquered the demons of your past and saved the princess in the tower, what else could _possibly_ be making you think this relationship would be a bad thing?"

I notice Yelv smirking in my direction, clearly just waiting for me to offer up some kind of excuse. Instead I merely reach underneath my seat and pull out the box and open it, showcasing the Hibiscus.

Their eyes widen and I hear Rock breathe out a 'wow'. Grin turns to me and haltingly asks, "Is this…Is this a?"

"It is indeed. And it's for you Gwin. Give it to Irina."

He looks at me with his mouth hanging open and I break out laughing.

"It's not for you dumbass. But I'll put in a good word for you with Tatsu if you ever want one. And I was actually planning to ask her out today, but the party put that on hold for another few hours. Once it's over I'll ask her."

Yelv heaves a disappointed sigh and complains, "Dammit pard I had a whole roast ready for you, way to put all that hard work to waste."

"My deepest condolences Yelv."

Vi sighs.

"To be gifted such an astounding specimen…if you don't mind me asking Cross, you never told us exactly _why_ you were so attracted to Celica, especially given the rather short time you two have spent together."

"Coming from the guy who was swept off his feet by Gu Ladha in a single night."

He shrugs and Frye takes over the conversation with, "Guy has a point Cross. I always thought you would end up with Elma or Lin, they've been with you since day one."

I'm about to respond flippantly when I realize this actually deserves some real thought.

Slowly I reply, "I never really felt that way about Elma, if only because I admired her so much. Her assuredness, leadership skills, charisma…I think I wanted to be _like_ her, not _with_ her. Besides if we had ended up dating, poor Doug over here would have needed up single his whole life."

There's a few laughs and a scowl from Doug but I ignore him.

"As for Lin…well at one point I did have a bit of a crush on her, but after hearing about her parents, as well as how she kind of viewed me as a father-brother-hybrid thing, I was happy to take on that roll. She deserves it after all she's done for me."

I take a deep breath and collect my thoughts before speaking.

"For Celica…I guess it's as simple as we're alike in some very important ways. False modesty aside, we like to downplay or deny how selfless we actually are, and definitely don't like admitting that we're more at ease solving others problems than we are our own."

Frye snorts at that and I give him a look.

"Lastly, and don't take this the wrong way, we're both kind of isolated from others in NLA."

I hold up my hand as Doug goes to ask what I'm talking about and he falls back in his seat with an unhappy look on his face.

"I don't mean that we're lonely or anything like that. You guy's are my buddies, my hombres, through thick and thin. And there's dozens of others who aren't here right now that I feel the same way about."

I sigh.

"But you can't deny that I'm missing something important. Years of living on Earth, seeing it's sights, living in it's cities, breathing it's air…and it's destruction, and what that meant to everyone."

They all shift uncomfortably, which I can understand.

* * *

The exodus from Earth created a powerful, shared experience that every Human in NLA could relate to on some level.

EVERYONE left something behind on Earth. Homes, pets, friends, family…there simply was't enough room on the Ark ships to afford free passage to those who couldn't carry their own weight.

I wasn't there for any of that. I can't relate to the feeling of having to leave loved ones behind to die, of having no choice but to soldier on, with no guarantee of ever finding a new home.

It's not the missing culture, the lack of social experience or anything along those lines that _truly_ leaves me feeling ostracized from my own species.

It's not remembering anything about our home, or how it hurt to leave it behind that _truly_ leaves me on an island of sorts.

I remember one day asking various BLADEs about the last days of Earth, and what they remember about it. Every one of them got a haunted look in their eyes and refused to talk about it.

But I can imagine.

With the construction of the ships nearing completion, and the Ganglion and Ghosts appearing in the skies, people would obviously panic and try to board the ships no matter the method, ships which could no longer take on passengers. Doug and Lao never talk about what they had to do when they were guarding the ships before takeoff, and I never want to ask a second time. My imagination and their blank expressions painted a clear enough picture.

But then again, that's the point. I can't simply read up on what it felt like to leave Earth and it's billions behind to perish, I can only offer empty platitudes and pretend to know what it was like.

* * *

Frye gives me a sympathetic look and says, "Damn Cross…I never thought of it that way. I guess that's a pretty big hurdle to jump over huh?"

"It is what it is Frye. And don't feel sorry for me. If anything I should be pitying _you_ guys. But then it's almost the flip side for Celica."

"How so?"

"I don't remember anything about my home that was destroyed out of the thousands that survived and feel excluded because of it. She remembers everything about her home, and could maybe be the last one of her species to remember it, which leaves her just as ostracized. Two sides of the same coin much?"

Everyone is quiet as they consider that.

* * *

"So how's the squad doing Julun? Cross never tells us anything."

"It is quite interesting. Many brushes with death, plenty of close calls and more bad jokes than I care to remember."

"Yah that sound like an organization Cross would be in charge of alright."

Irina turns to me and asks, "So Celica, I hear you got your Skell license, congrats and welcome to the big leagues!"

I smile and playfully answer, "It was only due to Mia's extensive experience with Skells prior to the exam that I was able to do so."

"Aw c'mon Celica it's bad enough that Chief gives me crap about that all the time, not you too!"

Lin laughs and jumps in with, "Don't worry about it Mia, I was talking to Walter just the other day and he said he'll start taking bigger payments out of your jobs so you can get rid of the debt faster."

"Man you guys are harsh…"

Julun takes pity on her and turns her attention to Irina.

"So how is trainee squad now that Wrothian and I no longer there?"

"Ugh, it's downright embarrassing. Without you two there to show the kiddies how lame they actually are I have to settle for yelling at them until they get it."

Elma laughs at Irina's complaints.

"Now you get a taste of what it was like training you guys back on Earth. You were quite the handful Irina."

"Colonel! I wasn't anywhere near as bad as these new recruits!"

"Oh yes you were. Always asking questions and wondering why we have to do things my way instead of the 'right' way."

Irina looks scandalized as we all laugh at her expense.

"Was I really that bad?"

"You absolutely were."

She shakes her head in disbelief while Hope looks back to where the boys are sitting and apparently deep in some conversation.

"I wonder what they said to Rock that made him so upset. I've never actually seen him cry before. What was that about?"

I simply smile and reassure with, "Likely nothing important. Besides he seems quite happy now, I wouldn't worry overmuch."

"Well if you say so."

Lin suddenly turns to me with a sly smile on her face.

"So Celica, how are you and Cross doing lately? Any progress?"

I feel a slight blush start to form as Lin poses her question. I was just wondering when she was going to bring this up.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean Lin."

She rolls her eyes and replies, "Oh c'mon Celica you know exactly what I'm talking about. You and him have been dancing around this topic for more than a month now! When are you two going to start dating for crying out loud!"

Julun snorts and amusedly says, "Been wondering that for a long time now I have."

Mia of course can't resist adding her own two cents and playfully says, "At this rate the two of them will start getting wrinkles before they even get to second base."

I feel myself flush bright red and immediately reply, "I think that's enough of _that_. And why do you all seem to have such an interest in the two of us?"

Hope smiles sweetly at me and happily replies, "Because the two of you are dear friends to us, and we'd like the two of you to be happy. If that means we need to push and tease the both of you, then so be it."

Lin rolls her eyes.

"I still don't know what you see in him Celica. Ok he's got a pretty face, whoop-dee-doo. He's also painfully oblivious."

Irina looks pensive for a second and asks, "How did you two even end up attracted to each other? Didn't you first meet less than, what, five months ago? Not to mention the both of you have been pretty busy with your own tasks, it's not like you were spending every waking minute together."

I can't help but smile as I remember our first, and rather awkward meeting. Elma and Lin glance at me and have similar expressions on their face, no doubt remembering the same thing.

"Actually Irina, when we first met it ended rather uncomfortably for poor Cross…"

* * *

Rock and I had been on the run in Noctilum for months, avoiding Ganglion patrols as well as Mira's more aggressive denizens. It had been a fairly normal morning, creating a campfire and then preparing a morning meal…until several Marnucks had spotted us. In retrospect it had been foolish to use dry, old wood. The smoke was visible for kilometers around us, a giant sign pointing to where we had been.

Thankfully we managed to stay ahead of them for several hours, but they had slowly surrounded us, forcing us to run into a cavern. We had started to slow down, mostly due to my exhaustion and Rock's dislike of enclosed spaces, when they finally caught up to us.

A single gunshot landed right next to my feet and I froze in fear, Rock stopping right beside me.

"Stop right there! Take another step forward and the next one goes through your leg!"

Swallowing my terror I had turned around and stepped in front of Rock, trying not to shake as I counted twelve Ganglion soldiers.

"You've led us on quite the chase little lady! Quite impressive considering you had that giant tagging along with you. Unfortunately we're also pretty upset with you now because of that. You know what that means?"

I settled for glaring at him instead of answering.

"It means that if you listen to us and don't struggle, we take you to our bosses safe and sound. Fight us, and we'll hurt you. Badly. Don't give us that excuse."

My shaking had started in earnest then, and Rock had whimpered. I knew what being captured by the Ganglion meant, and I was even more frightened for Rock, as the Ganglion would almost certainly punish him for his earlier betrayal. Although to be fair I probably wouldn't have been much better off, the Ganglion aren't gentle with escapees.

Desperately trying to think of a way to run, the Ganglion didn't give me the opportunity to do so.

"Shrak, get the binders on that girl and make em tight. We don't need that little whor-"

Whatever rude term the leader had been about to describe me as was lost to time as his upper half suddenly came apart in a spray of disintegrating biomass, coinciding with a sudden roar coming from farther down the cavern. Said roar had been caused by a small humanoid wielding a weapon almost as large as it was, which was currently spitting fire at the remaining Ganglion who immediately scrambled for cover. One more didn't make it, losing an arm and then his head as hail of gunfire took him down.

Quickly finding cover among the scattered boulder one Marnuck had leaned around the rock and gasped, "Humans?! What are they doing here?!"

No one was able to answer him as his head had suddenly snapped back and then forward, a geyser of blood shooting out of the newly created hole in his cranium, courtesy of a crimson clad figure with a smoking weapon.

I barely noticed however, my blood running cold at the mention of Humans. There was no other race among the Ganglion that inspired such a mix of both hatred and fear. Rock and I had heard of Human's creating a city on the planet, and had taken care to avoid them as thoroughly as we did the Ganglion. Rumors among the many member species of the Ganglion all seemed to agree that the Human's killed first and asked questions never.

Back then I hadn't even thought to question such hearsay. After all, any species that could give the Ganglion such a fright must be brutal beyond belief.

Regardless, I had assumed Rock and I were simply trading one enemy for another.

The Manuck's had started returning fire from their position, causing the two Humans to retreat around a corner.

There had been a second of tense silence before several spherical objects had bounced around the corner and then exploded, throwing up a massive dust cloud and briefly stunning several of the Ganglion with the ensuring shockwave. Rock and I had retreated around an outcropping farther up the cavern to hide, mesmerized despite the direness of our situation.

Apparently using the dust as a form of cover, a dark green figure had suddenly appeared, sprinting towards the Ganglion with frightening speed. Several of the Marnucks had taken aim at the being, and I had assumed this particular Human was done for.

I was quickly proven wrong as the figure leaped to the side, avoiding the initial volley. The Human's two allies had also opened fire, taking advantage of the Marnuck's distraction to take down two more. Closing to around fifteen meters away from the Ganglion's position, the charging Human suddenly ran _up the wall,_ running at a ninety degree angle towards the Ganglion. In three bounding steps the Human had taken aim at the Marnuck's, taking advantage of their shock to open fire with it's two guns.

Two Ganglion had fallen, several bullet holes showing in the gaps of their armor. Quickly holstering the weapons, the Human had closed the remaining distance and threw itself into a spinning kick that brought the heel of it's boot into contact with the face of a startled Marnuck.

The Ganglion trooper had been thrown back several meters, it's face a crater of blood, bone and teeth from the force of the impact while the Human had landed in a crouch, facing the two remaining Ganglion, who were quickly backpedalling and bringing their weapons to bear. Not giving them a chance to fire, the Human had leaped towards the closest one, drawing the two swords on it's back in one smooth motion. The Marnuck the Human had targeted never even had a chance to cry out. With a single slash the Human's sword had sliced through the creature's wrists, and the other sword had pierced through it's mouth into it's brain before it even had time to scream.

Quickly turning toward the last Marnuck, the Human's swords were suddenly torn from it's grip as the Marnuck's gunfire caught the blades. The gun suddenly cycling open as the ammo ran out, the Marnuck contemptuously threw it aside and snidely remarked, "Ha! Probably not so tough without your little weapons now, are you vermin?"

I wasn't of the same opinion, in fact this particular Human seemed far more dangerous than any other Ganglion soldier I had the misfortune to see before. I saw no reason to disabuse this particular trooper of his opinion, however, seeing as I was not the one fighting.

The Human had simply stood completely still during the Marnuck's posturing, not making a sound.

"Hmph! No words before you die? THEN DIE!"

Pulling it's plasma saber from it's belt and charging with a load roar, the Marnuck made a vicious downward swing towards the Human's head…or at least it had tried to. The Human's hand had blurred as it grabbed the Marnuck's wrist, halting the swing's momentum as it latched onto the soldier's arm. Quickly pulling on the Marnuck's limb the Human threw it's hip into the shocked Xeno's, leveraging it up and over it's shoulder, only to slam it onto the ground with enough force to stun the Ganglion trooper.

Not waiting for the creature to regain it's senses the Human brought it's leg up and slammed it down on the Marnuck's face, creating a loud crunching noise and putting an end to fight. I had quickly glanced towards the other two Ganglion only to find that they had been dealt with by the Human wearing red along with backup from the Human toting the large weapon.

The armored alien had taken a quick glance around then shouted, "Clear!"

I had flinched at hearing the slightly artificial tone the Human had spoken with, and in my panic induced state, had assumed it was some form of war machine. It made sense at the time. The Human's had obviously used it to draw the Ganglion's fire, as well as distracting the larger group of soldiers with it so they could eliminate the smaller group with ease.

Regardless of my hysteria, when that armored form had turned towards me and started moving in my direction, instinct took over. Quickly grabbing a dropped Ganglion assault rifle I checked the safety and aimed at the approaching figure.

Suddenly halting and raising it's hands peaceably, the 'robot' had backed off a few steps.

"I'm sorry if we frightened you, my name is Elma. And you are?"

She had turned to face the Human wearing the red clothing and suddenly realized she had been holding her breath, letting it out and suddenly gasping for breath. The last few minutes had been…stressful.

"Are we correct in assuming the Ganglion are after you? If so we might be able to help. We come from a planet called Earth, but now we're fighting the Ganglion here on Mira."

Rock had perked up at that and excitedly asked, "Really?"

"Pay them no heed Rock!"

"But Celica, they just beat up those bad guys!"

"It matters not, I will not be fooled again."

Trust hadn't come easily to me then, and no doubt still being in a state of heightened anxiety wasn't making it any easier. And these were Humans we had been talking about. I had thought Rock was being too trusting at the time.

Naturally, his instincts would later turn out to be correct.

The smaller Human had spoken up with, "Well either way it's not safe here."

I couldn't exactly disagree with that, but all of a sudden the 'robot' had carefully spoken up with, "Are you sure you two are ok? You both look as if you've been on the run for days."

My temper had flared and I shouted, "Don't flatter us with your hollow kindness!"

The figure had flinched at my yell and took a quick step back and looked away. Again, if I had had my wits about me, I would have found it strange that a machine would actually show fear and hurt at my words.

Not my proudest moment.

It didn't help that the smaller Human looked angry at my shout and was about to say something when what I assumed to be the leader spoke up with a calm voice.

"Look, I understand that it may be hard for you to trust a pack of random strangers, but we really do want to help if we can. I hope you can believe us."

It had taken a little more convincing, but eventually Tatsu and Rock brought me around to the idea of staying in NLA.

I remember arriving in the city and being overwhelmed by the myriad of races living in the city, as well as the overall friendliness of it's population. It was a far sight different than what the Ganglion had often described.

The true moment of awkwardness was yet to come however.

Elma, Lin and the man I still didn't know as Cross came to check on Rock and I once we had travelled to the city.

"Hello everyone!"

Rock had looked up from the many Ma-non and Nopon who were looking at him with amazement to shout, "Hey! Over here!"

The three had walked over and Elma asked, "How do you like the city so far?"

"It's rather overwhelming to be honest, but Rock seems quite content so…we'd like to stay, if that's permissible."

Lin had happily replied, "Of course! And whatever you need, just let us know, ok?"

There was a few more polite words before I turned to the young man and carefully said, "Forgive me if I'm being rude, but I'm afraid we haven't met yet, may I have your name?"

There was a look of confusion among the three before Elma said, "Actually he was with us when we saved you and Rock. This is Cross. He was the guy in the armor…"

We all seem to have the same epiphany as we realized I never actually saw him without his helmet, nor ever heard his name. My face turned bright red as I bowed in a hurry, saying, "Please forgive me, I was still in a state of panic after the attack, and your helmet made your voice sound artificial, so I thought you were a machine, and-oh no, I'm sorry I was so rude to you and-"

My tirade was cut off as I heard Lin laughing hysterically and poking Cross in the side.

"You need to work on your personality if she thought you were a robot! Oh my god, that's just too much! Haha!"

Cross had looked rather sheepish and scratched the back of his head in a motion that was almost an exact mirror of Rock's

"I guess I didn't really make a good first showing then huh? And don't worry Celica it's fine. I could have solved the whole issue if I'd just had the brains to take my helmet off, so no harm done."

I still remember how quiet and friendly his voice was. There was a slight accent to it different from Elma and Lin's, but not an unpleasant one, in fact it was almost lyrical.

The two women had just shaken their heads and Elma sighed.

"Cross you really need to work on your social skills. For heaven's sake, she thought you were a _machine_."

"I can be perfectly likable when I need to be."

"Oh really? Prove it prince charming."

"If you insist."

He had turned to me with a disarming smile that was equal parts mischievous and honest.

"You mentioned being slightly overwhelmed by the city. If you and Rock are up to it, I can show you around the city as your own personal tour guide, completely free of charge and I'll even buy lunch. And yes, I'm aware that Rock can likely eat enough for thirty, my statement still stands."

I smiled at his offer, genuinely given even though it was obviously just to one-up his friends. I went along with it because I _did_ actually want to see the city, and because I still felt guilty about not even learning his name the first time around.

Turning to Rock I had asked, "Rock, do you wish to take Cross up on his offer?"

He had turned to look at the both of us and after a moment gave a toothy smile and said, "No that's ok Celica, you go on ahead with him. I still have a lot of names to learn over here anyway!"

I had been momentarily surprised by Rock's decision but nodded and smiled anyway.

"Then I shall see you later today, with a list of places to visit courtesy of my guide."

"Ok, see you later Celica!"

Turning to Cross I said, "Well, I am in your capable hands Cross. Shall we depart?"

Giving a smaller, but more genuine smile he had replied, "We shall. How does visiting the cities park sound for starters?"

As we had walked off I heard Lin quietly say to Elma, "Ok, I'll admit that was actually pretty slick."

* * *

Mia and Irina are laughing hysterically once I finish my recounting of events.

"Hold up hold up…so the first time you and the Chief met, not only did you pull a gun on him, mistake him for a robot, you also shouted and scared the crap out of him?! Oh my god, that's AMAZING."

I can't help but blush as I remember how ridiculous our first meeting was, when looked at it through the lens of hindsight.

As Mia and Irina calm down a little, Hope smiles and asks, "While it's no slaying the dragon and saving the maiden in peril kind of fairy tale, I still find it romantic in a strange kind of way. Was that when you first fell in love?"

I shake my head.

"It was a sort of gradual feeling. We would often meet up and just walk around the city, or occasionally take the random Prospector or Curator mission together. He loved to hear about my home planet, always seeming so enthusiastic when learning about it. Then one day I was shopping with Rock and without realizing it was asking him a question about one of your planet's products, completely forgetting he wasn't even there."

I give an embarrassed little shrug.

"It was a very small and inconsequential thing, but it made me realize just how much I'd come to rely and take for granted his aid and company."

They're all quiet for a moment until Mia sniffs and says in a teary voice, "Well when you put it that way, I kinda wish my soulmate would show up already…"

Julun gently laughs and gives Mia's arm a squeeze.

"No need to be in such rush. You will find mate who will appreciate you one day. Besides, Celica can agree with me on this. Men can sometimes be massive pain in ass."

I break out laughing at Julun's sage advice, and look over to where Cross is currently shaking his head in exasperation as Yelv tries to convince him of something, obviously not buying whatever it is Yelv is trying to say.

"No, I can't really disagree with her at all."

* * *

I stretch as Yelv gives up on trying to convince me that holding a gun sideways improves your aim and check my timepiece.

Ok, no more putting this off.

I quickly stand up and say, "Alright guys wish me luck. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes look for me hanging from a tree branch."

Gwin raises an eyebrow.

"Dark. But good luck to yah bud, we'll be waiting right here."

I make a quick stop by the drink table to down an entire glass of water and then head to where the girls are seated.

I think the only time I've ever been this nervous before is when testing one of Lin's new inventions.

I walk up beside Celica and try not to wince as several different pairs of eyes swivel in my direction.

"Hey Celica, do you mind if we have that conversation now? It shouldn't take too long."

I don't quite miss the quick glance she gives the others and I try not to audibly swallow.

"Certainly Cross. Lead the way."

I try not to walk like I have a stick up my ass as Celica follows me a little farther away, sheesh this is nerve wracking. After we're about ten or so meters away and covered fairly cleanly by a tree's branches I turn to Celica and clear my throat.

"So uh, Celica…"

I find myself staring into her dark blue eyes and quickly lose my train of thought. Screw it. Let's go with the bold.

I hold out the box and open it, showing the Hibiscus that gently glows in the slowly setting sun. Her eyes widen as she looks at it in shock.

"I'm not sure if Qlurians have any sort of tradition for this kind of thing, lord knows Earth has like a billion different customs, but I thought this would make a fitting present. And now I'm rambling. Celica, would you like to start dating? Officially?"

Jesus suffering _Christ_. That was an _awful_ confession. Fucking kill me.

Instead of laughing at my ludicrous attempt, she instead gently picks up the Hibiscus and lifts it to her nose, gently inhaling and smiling.

She truly is a goddess. Now hopefully she doesn't strike me down.

Giving me a somewhat arch look that also manages to be endearing at the same time she playfully says, "I can't imagine this was easy to come by."

"Indeed it wasn't. The Ruler of Fates itself didn't wish to part with such a magnificent specimen, I barely got away with my life."

She raises an eyebrow.

"Actually I asked Tatsu to find one. I couldn't find the time to travel all the way to Noctilum and back what with everything that's going on."

She chuckles and gently put's the Hibiscus in her hair, pinning it in place. She takes a step back and asks, "How do I look?"

"I find my meager vocabulary insufficient, so I'm going to steal a quote. _'Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked'_."

She carefully looks at me for a second and just as I start to wonder that I did something wrong she takes a quick step forward and kisses me full on the lips.

…Wow. Just…wow.

My mind distantly registers the sound of a camera shutter clicking, but I _so_ don't care right now. Right now is about me and the one person on this planet who I can honestly, unreservedly and completely relate to. No ifs or buts about it.

I'm not exactly sure how long the kiss goes on. It feels like an eternity or three, with a small dash of forever thrown in.

So likely just a few seconds.

After we gently pull away I wrap my arms around her and she softly whispers in my ear, "Just in case that wasn't clear, my answer is yes."

I can't help but chuckle and reply, "You seem to completely understand just how dense I can be sometimes."

"Aren't you lucky to have me?"

"Indeed I am."

We stand there intertwined for maybe a minute before I sigh dejectedly.

"I suppose we should head back now. We'll never hear the end of it if we don't give our dear friends a chance to ruthlessly embarrass us."

Her smile effortlessly turns into a smirk.

"Who says we have to take it lying down? That was a camera during our kiss just now wasn't it? Running such a highly private moment is worth a little indignation don't you think?"

A smirk of my own grows and I kiss her on the forehead.

"I like the way you think."

* * *

Our carefully constructed plan of moral outrage sadly turned out to be unneeded. Everyone was waiting and cheering as we walked in hand in hand.

So much for that particular scenario.

I clear my throat and say, "So as of today-"

Yelv cuts me off and immediately yells, "You two are a thing now, yah we get it, never mind that Pard, get on over here and open up your present!"

"Present?"

"You know, that thing you get on your birthday!"

Huh. I totally forgot about that. Elma walks on over and hands me a wrapped package that's about the size of a standard portable viewing screen. I take off the wrapping and find a matte black personal data device, obviously built to last.

Turning it on I notice that it's wirelessly connected to several different comm devices, with one file already created with over four hundred and fifty photos stored.

At my questioning glance Elma smiles and says, "We couldn't decide what to get you, and seeing as how you're pretty wealthy on your own, we decided to go with something money can't buy. That device is connected to several different comms, and we can freely share data to it. Anytime we want to share something with you, we can."

All I can really do is give a small smile and reply, "Thanks guys…this means a lot to me."

"To borrow one of your phrases, 'friends for friends', right?"

* * *

About an hour later we're all cleaning up our little party, stacking the tables and chairs with Rock carrying them back to the storage shed. Drifting off in twos and threes, eventually it's just me and Celica left over while Rock ambled on home.

I think everyone planned it that way.

"Hey Celica, are you busy tomorrow?"

"I have nothing planned, why?"

"Well I was hoping we could maybe go on an actual date tomorrow. Seeing as how we'll likely be too busy preparing for the battle afterwards, I think we should take this opportunity while it's there."

"What a coincidence, I feel the same way. Do you have a plan or do I need to chaperone you?"

I smile at her snark and reply, "Have no fear, I have the whole day planned out in excruciating detail. Meet at 0900 in front of Galactic Parking?"

She smiles and gives me kiss.

"Agreed. I'll see you then Cross."

She walks off while I stand there, motionless.

It's a damn shame it's not raining right now, otherwise I would be breaking into a dance number that would make Gene Kelly weep with envy.

* * *

Back at the barracks I plop down onto my bed after fighting off Zippy's lick attack and open up my newly received present, tabbing through several of the photos and laughing at how ridiculous most of them are.

There's ones of me and Phog carrying a passed out Frye, holding back Yelv from tackling a random stranger, meditating with Bozé, desperately rolling around on the ground to put out a fire one of Lin's failed contraptions caused…all sorts of memories, ones that I'm quite glad I never have to stress about losing anymore.

I'm just about to put the pad away when a beep signifies a newly uploaded image, and I take a look at it.

My eyes bug out as I see it's a photo of me and Celica kissing, and I suddenly remember the sound of the camera shutter during our moment. It had understandably seemed inconsequential at the time.

I take a look at the text attached to it and read, " _It looks like you're trying to eat each other's faces! Should probably frame this one, since all jokes aside it's really beautiful. Congrats on finally growing a pair!_ "

I shake my head at the message, which is obviously of Lin's creation. I take a closer look at the photo and find myself agreeing with her conclusion though. The two of us are framed in both shadow and sunlight, as the trees and setting sun create a natural filter effect. The Hibiscus in Celia's hair looks as if it's on fire, and the look of utter peace on both our faces rounds out the scene quite nicely.

I decide to forgive Lin for the spying and instead turn over on my side to hopefully fall asleep, despite the temptation to relive that particular moment.

It takes a few hours.

* * *

My lackluster knowledge of fashion has never really caused trouble for me before. I would either wear armor or BLADE casual wear, with the occasional civilian clothing for the odd night out.

Of course now I feel like slapping myself for not learning about this stuff, seeing as how this morning is kinda important and all, what with the first ever date of my life occurring.

Forget it.

I just run with a plain blue tank top and cargo shorts with sandals to round out the whole ensemble.

Simple is best.

* * *

I wonder if fear, nervousness, excitement and elation are normal emotions teenagers feel when they're about to take their girlfriend out on the first date. If they are, then i'm thirteen years old all over again.

I nervously transfer my weight from one foot to another and mentally remind myself for what feels like the hundredth time to _chill_. Being a bundle of nerves isn't going to make me a very good conversationalist.

My train of thought is interrupted as a familiar voice speaks up behind me.

"Waiting for someone?"

I turn around and quickly find myself floundering for words. If I'm a fashion beginner then Celica is clearly an expert. She's wearing a simple forest green Midi style dress that blends perfectly with her tan skin, while the Hibiscus stands out brilliantly, gently swaying in the light breeze. She also straightened her hair, pulling it behind her head instead of leaving it in the usual cascade around her face.

Personally I think her usual style fits her better, but this new look accentuates her beauty and fully exposes both of her eyes. Put all together, she draws more than a few second looks from people around us, which fills me with a sense of smug pride that _I_ managed to be the one she fell in love with.

Uh oh. Not even a day into this relationship and I'm already thinking like an overly possessive boyfriend. We'll need to work on that.

"I was, but someone far more interesting came along. By the way, you're absolutely gorgeous today. And that's the least interesting thing about you as well."

She chuckles shyly and happily replies, "Laying on the compliments fast and thick, aren't we? Planning on making me pay for lunch?"

"Perish the thought. Someone other than random passerbyhad to draw attention to just how stunning you are, and I'm honored that said someone happened to be me."

She shakes her head in disbelief at my flattery and I decide to lay off for now. Offering my arm I smile and ask, "Shall we?"

Taking my arm she smiles back at me and says, "We shall. And if you don't mind me saying so, you look rather nice yourself."

Simple really is better.

* * *

I smile in contentment as I lean back in my chair. Today has been stellar so far, and I think the latter half is only going to get better. We'd spent the first half of the morning touring Ruby Flower Co. and then _Ginerva's_ clothing outlet. While Celica did admit that I did a good job with what little I had available, she was quite adamant that I get more than just a few casual clothes in my wardrobe, or she would dump me faster than I can say, 'bargain bin'.

Needless to say, I didn't argue. Like, at all. Now the proud new owner of a few button down shirts, a pair of slacks and a new jacket I suppose I could be presentable at a slightly more formal function. Celica seemed to have quite a bit of fun having me try on every different type of apparel, so I guess that's what really counts.

The _Blue Pocket's_ waiter comes by to take away our cleaned out plates and Celica happily stretches her arms and back, giving me a very lovely view.

"So what's next on your agenda Cross? Today has been wonderful so far, what's your finale?"

I take a look at the sky and see that it's almost sunset, we spent quite a bit of time perusing the Commercial District, more than I had expected we would. I have a moment of indecision before I smile and say, "How do you feel about seeing something I've kept secret from everybody else in the city?"

I see a slight twinkle enter her eyes and she playfully says, "You have my attention…"

* * *

"This is amazing…how did you find this place?"

"Well I didn't actually find it per se. More like I convinced a fellow partner in crime to create it, their way of thanking me I guess."

The two of us had just teleported onto the deck of the Ma-non ship, where I used to keep my secret hideout. Maybe not so secret now that two people know about it, but I'm more than happy to share it with Celica. Besides, her obvious excitement at finding such an awe-inspiring vantage point makes it worth it.

"I can see why you would want to keep such a view to yourself…" she briefly glances at me with a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

"Are you sure it's alright to show me this? This must have been an incredibly private place for you."

I smirk at her and gently place a kiss on her forehead. She's just the right height to do so, which is quickly becoming a favorite hobby of mine.

"Of course I'm certain. Keeping a place like this to myself would be satisfying in it's own way, but sharing is caring after all. And I think I'll enjoy the company more than I will the solitude."

She seems reassured by this and we both turn to watch the sun slowly dip behind the horizon. I take a glance at her and notice she seems slightly chilled by the wind. Well not that I can blame her. It's pretty cold up here, and not everyone has the advantage of a cybernetic body. Plus I just really like the cold.

Grinning I scoop her up in my arms princess style and ignore her protests as I walk over to my usual recessed alcove where there's a break in the hull. Sitting down I pull her into my lap and wrap my arms around her, staving off most of the wind and sharing my body heat.

Well mostly I just want to hold her in my arms, but it's nice to have a legitimate excuse. I feel more than hear her laugh and she then says, "Was it really necessary to carry me all of the eight meters to this spot?"

"Necessary? No, but highly enjoyable. And don't think it hasn't escaped my notice that you've probably spent more time carrying or helping me off of the ground than is advisable. I need to even out the scales somehow."

"Oh? Just a few weeks ago I seem to recall you carrying me across a very busy battlefield, getting hit with gunfire the entire time. I suppose that doesn't count?"

"Funny you mention that, since I also recall you and Vi pulling me behind a boulder before I got perforated by several different Ganglion munitions. And not to mention all the other times you've saved my butt from angry Indigens. I think the ratio is firmly in your favor still. So let me have my moment."

We both share a laugh at the pointless conversation and spend the next dozen or so minutes watching the sky change, the moons rise and an aurora spread itself across the sky. We stay that way for a awhile longer before Celica shifts and quietly asks, "What are you thinking about?"

I inaudibly sigh at her question. Go figure she would be able to tell the difference between me being quiet as opposed to contemplative.

"I can tell you, as long as you don't mind me rambling or getting all abstract."

"Hit me with your best shot."

I smile at how quickly she's picked up some of our more colorful phrases and then lose the smile as I look up at the spiraling colors cascading across the sky.

"I guess…it just seems so unlikely, when you stop to think about it. Who knows how many stars, with who knows how many planets, and we end up on one with such astounding beauty, at the same time as several other species find their way to the same place. I mean, what are the odds?"

Seeming to pick up on where I'm going with this, she softly says, "And just what are the odds, exactly, that the two of us would have met…it does seem almost like fate."

I snort at that.

"Fate. Every existentialists worst nightmare."

Amusement coloring her tone she replies, "I would never have imagined you being partial to such large scope thoughts."

"I can take on a broad view when needed."

"Hmm…if you say so."

I smirk and playfully nip the edge of her ear. To my complete surprise she gives a startled yelp and jumps in my arms as soon as my teeth make contact, almost giving me a heart attack.

She whirls on me with her face an alarmingly bright shade of red and stammers out, "W-what was that for!"

I'm struck dumb for a second before I burst out laughing. Ok, that was just too damn cute.

"Cross! That wasn't funny!"

Which of course only make me laugh harder, causing her to growl and then grab my ear and give a sharp twist.

"Owowow! Ok I give I give!"

She releases my ear despite me still chortling and looks away in embarrassment.

"What in Qlu's name gave you the inspiration to do that?"

I gently stroke her ear instead of biting it this time and that seems to mollify her a bit.

"Sorry, that was just on an impulse. If you don't want me to do that again let me know and I'll take it off of my list of teases."

She averts her eyes and quietly says, "Well, it wasn't really _unpleasant,_ just surprising."

I smile and file that particular tidbit away for future use. I gently tilt her head back and softly kiss her, which she responds to with mounting enthusiasm.

What follows is a particularly enjoyable make-out session.

* * *

I smile contentedly as I walk back into the BLADE barracks, still smelling of lavender and and vanilla. My mind is in about twenty different places right now so it takes the person trying to get my attention about a whole minute before I say, "Huh?"

Elma and Lin both sigh in unison and ask, "We said, how did it go?"

"…I suppose my utter stupor didn't give you enough of a summary then?"

"Oh it did, but we want to hear it from your lips directly."

I smile smugly and reply, "Well since you asked so politely…tell you what, the the two of you get boyfriends, I'll spill the whole story. Deal?"

Lin looks scandalized before shouting, "That's so not fair!"

Elma just rolls her eyes and asks, "Want to keep the memories to yourself then I take it?"

"Right the first time leader. Now if you'll excuse, I have to go take a cold shower and prepare for tomorrow. This super secret Skell isn't going to fly itself."

Elma never loses her smile and merely gazes at me with a smug look in her eyes.

"That's a good idea Cross. Lin and I will be there tomorrow morning at the trial, so you had better get some rest. We'll make sure your test run is _very_ thorough."

My brain grinds to a halt as I just realize I brushed off the two people who'll likely be putting me through my paces tomorrow.

Well poop.

Sighing I morosely say, "Slight change of plans then. I'll take a cold shower and then up my life insurance."

Elma pats my cheek while Lin predatorily grins.

"Good idea Cross. See you then."

* * *

"So how many people have you had to shoot for finding out too much about this place?"

"Talk too much about what's going on in here, and you'll be the first."

I roll my eyes at the less than humorous response from one of the Restricted Hangar's technicians. In between the dour expressions MIM repair center workers have, as well as the no nonsense attitude these Skell design teams partake of, I'd hazard a guess that not having a sense of humor is pretty much a required trait for those jobs.

My guide enters a long and complicated password into a nearby panel, submits to a retinal and palm scan as well as voice recognition before the door slowly grinds open.

"I'm surprised it didn't want a stool sample as well."

He ignores me and I decide to simply stop trying. Leading me further into the hangar I eventually spot Vandham, Elma, Lin, Alexa and Veven all standing around a darkened Skell holding rack.

"Hey look who decided to show up! Our very own crash test dummy."

"I'd like to pretend that's a joke, but this place seems to be short on irreverent statements."

"Careful what you say around these parts, or you might find your organs harvested."

"Again, wish that sounded like a joke."

Alexa gives a frustrated noise and says, "Can we please get on with this? I _so_ want to see this baby in action!"

"We better not keep Alexa waiting guys, or she might just hop in the Skell herself."

That earns me a scowl from her as well as a quick few chuckles from the others.

"Alright to business then. Feast your eyes on this kiddo!"

With a dramatic flair he gestures towards the concealed alcove, and with a snap the lights come on, illuminating an intimidating figure.

I give a low whistle of approval.

Lin grins maniacally and says, "Say hello to the Ares 90, the baddest machine ever produced by NLA yet."

I run an appreciative eye over the Skell. The designers must have taken the recovered Prog Ares frame and used it as the baseline for this one. It largely looks the same, except for quite a bit of additional armor and a slightly more streamlined shape. The armor itself is slightly chrome, and the pitch black color scheme causes my eye to keep sliding off of the edges of the thing.

"It's actually pretty intimidating."

"Well we didn't build it to rescue trapped puppies and kittens. We built it to burn down the shelters said pups and kitties are sleeping in."

"Charming. So how about we fire up this bad boy and see what it can do?"

Alexa turns and gives me a high five.

"Now _that's_ the Cross I know!"

* * *

I slowly breathe out and key in my BLADE I.D., causing a quiet hum to sound throughout the hangar as the Ares's reactor comes to life. I take a glance at the readouts and lose some of my initial nervousness. The Ares is using a dark matter generator similar to the one employed by the Vita, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if the engine was quite literally just transferred over. The said, using an unknown power source that is technically still in the 'might spontaneously combust' stage is slightly nerve wracking.

Veven's nervous voice comes in over the speakers with, "It turned on ok right? Right? Nothing uh, blew up did it? Or catch on fire?"

"I don't like the fact that you sound surprised that none of those things happened. But no. Everything's working just fine so far."

Elma takes over the conversation with, "Ok time to take her out for a spin Cross. Keep in mind the locomotion is different from most other Skells. The Ares uses anti-gravity as it's main mode of thrust, similar to Ganglion machines. Gravity repellers on it's feet, arms and back provide most of that power. Walking will likely take a bit of getting used to."

"Well you have to learn how to walk before you can run. In this case quite literally."

I tentatively move the machine out of it's rack and take the first step. I feel the leg slightly slide across the floor, almost as if it was coated with oil. Elma wasn't kidding when she said it'd take some getting used to.

I spend the next few minutes conversing with my observers, working out the motions of walking smoothly, then running. Within half and hour I'm smoothly gliding around the room in a sort of exaggerated jogging motion, almost like an ice skater.

"How's it feel Cross? Any problems so far?"

"Nope, give me another day or two and I'll be taking home the gold in figure skating. I've got the movement down, talk me through the weapons."

Vandham eagerly cuts in with, "Glad you asked, cuz those are a beaut. First up is your close range sword, the M-Blade. It's Ether coated and has a diamond composite edge, it'll do just fine against most armors. The M-Blaster is a step up from most Skell rifles, it's long range, accurate and powerful."

I give an appreciative nod and tap one of the weapon icons, causing four targeting reticles to appear on screen, coinciding with the appearance of four wheel like devices on the machines back that start to twitch, as if seeking a target.

"How about these things?"

"Those would be The Avatara Drones. Those are a new type of autonomous weapon we're working on as opposed to gun drones that are all the rage now. Their edges can be heated up five thousand five hundred celsius, not something most alloys can handle for more than a split second."

"Yah no shit, as hot as the surface of a star? Is that even safe to be messing with?"

Veven jumps in with, "Well we _were_ pretty concerned with those at first, because that's, you know, pretty hot. But the containment fields are second to none, and if they fail the drones will immediately shut off, so nothing to worry about! Right?"

"…If you say so."

"Anyway next up is the Vajra Flail. It's pretty much what it sounds like, a flail that discharges electric shocks when it strikes something. Except those shocks are delivering just shy of ten thousand megajoules of energy in each swing. If you smacked a Qmoeva with that thing it'd be torn in half, your own little lighting strike on command. Just don't hit yourself with it."

"Duly noted" I reply dryly.

"The Agni Gatlings aren't anything too complicated thankfully. They're short range weapons that fire compressed Ether rounds at a nice pace, anything that get's too close to those is gonna find itself unravelled pretty damn quick."

I'm smiling like a schoolboy that just scored the winning touchdown and notice that Vandham didn't mention the last icon.

"So what's the story on this last bit here? The nuke button?"

" Actually kiddo, those are the Aghasura Cannons. Three Ether cannons working in tandem to produce one _very_ powerful and _very_ long ranged beam. I wish I could give you more specific details, but we haven't really wanted to risk trying them out before. That's your job."

I raise an eyebrow.

"You mean I get to pull the trigger before anyone else does? That sounds awesome."

"So how do you feel about ditching the training wheels and taking to the sky?"

"You read my mind commander."

I start making my way out of the hangar, trying not to break into a run. All these new toys to play with, and so little time to practice! Once I clear the last set of doors and walk out onto the hangars launch pad I gently engage the engines and carefully fly my way out of there. Quite a few of the mechanics turn to stare, open amazement on their faces at the sight of the Ares. I chuckle as I hit open sky and mess around with the controls a little.

Having the gravity repellers gives me a lot of maneuvering options, since they can provide 'thrust' from any direction. The Ares' flight pack is also quite versatile if I'm reading the schematic right, since it can provide almost 150 degrees of forward facing power.

The dual engine system is probably what I'll be practicing the most in the coming days.

Lin's voice snaps me out of my funk as she slyly says, "What are you, some old grandma? Cut loose with that thing would yah?"

I hear Vandham about to say something that'll probably be along the lines of, 'don't listen to that crazy kid', and decide to follow Lin's advice while I can.

I orient myself upwards, make sure there's no other air traffic and open up the throttle as wide as I can.

The sudden burst of acceleration SLAMS me into my crash seat and I nearly black out from the G forces, even with the MIM's natural toughness helping me out. I glance at the display as I rocket up into the sky and simultaneously grin and wince. This thing is going almost thirty-two thousand kmh, with no sign of slowing down, which means I'm pushing around ten gravities now. A normal human would need quite a bit of protective gear to keep their blood where it's supposed to be, never mind the sudden shifts in direction that would probably carry enough force to snap bones.

This. Is. _Awesome_.

I ease off the engines once I break through the cloud cover and take a shaky breath, trying to calm my racing pulse. Goddamn that was fun! Now that I'm not in a state of euphoria though I hear an angry voice coming in over the speakers.

"Dammit kid I was telling you to stop! What part of, 'experimental equipment' don't you get?"

"My bad my bad…that said you know the saying, 'what comes up, must go down'?"

"…Don't you even think about it kid."

"Doing it anyway."

Screw the consequences, I'm having way too much fun to stop now. Cutting the engines and letting the Ares begin a gentle fall towards the surface I feel an unstoppably huge grin crawl onto my face.

I wonder if this is what roller coasters are like?

Pushing the throttle as hard as it can go I again get mashed into my seat, but this time I'm prepared for it and holy crap I can't stop grinning like some demented monkey with a motorcycle as I scream towards the ground like a meteorite.

Ten seconds from impact with the ground I slam on the metaphorical brakes, aiming the repellers downwards and cutting the engines. Yet another brutal maneuver that throws me against my restraints and causes a sudden burst of pain as they dig into me, but oh so worth it.

The Ares floats to a stop a couple hundred meters above the ground and I use a shaking hand to push my hair back.

Adrenaline highs man. It just doesn't get any better than that.

My comm crackles to life and I hear Alexa, Veven and Lin laughing and highfiving in the background. Vandham, on the other hand, sounds like he's ready to rip my arm off and beat me to death with it.

"If you're done disobeying orders and _clearly_ trying to overtax an experimental machine, how about we move on to the weapons test?"

Despite the ensuring lecture I just know I'm gonna receive I smile and reply, "Yes sir, on my way now."

So, so worth it.

* * *

Pulling up alongside Eckart, The Indestructible I take a moment to check in with Vandham, eyeing the giant tyrant with some modicum of pity.

"So he's the subject of today's test eh? Seems a shame to have to pull the trigger after so long."

"Well he's never really been a problem before this last week. Recently he started attacking BLADE vehicles, and just two days ago trashed a base camp while the occupants were off on a mission. Cinicula's are already pretty hardy critters, and Eckarts a league all unto his own. A Skell team tried taking him out two days ago with nothing to show for it except some busted machines and wasted ammo. That thing's armor took a rail cannon shot with barely a scratch."

"Hence the nickname I suppose. Well let's get the show on the road then."

I float to about a thousand meters in front of the beast and slowly drag the reticle directly over it's head. Right now it's ignoring me, lazily digging a hole into the ground, probably about to go into a state of quasi-hibernation for awhile.

Either way, he's about to get a heck of a wake up call. I wait until there's a lock-on tone and then hit the trigger, feeling a slight shudder as the three cannons on the Ares' back align and then fire.

Ether is pretty weird. And that's an understatement of the century.

Ether was just one of the many new energies discovered on Mira, but had a nasty trick to it that gave it the potential to become an extremely deadly weapon. Ether, when condensed enough, acts as a sort of unravelling agent on a molecular level. What makes it so lethal is that the density or strength of a material makes no difference to compressed Ether. Hide behind three meters of starship battle plate and three meters of cotton when someones firing an Ether gun at you, you'll find no difference in the quality of protection. The plating will unravel just as easily as the softer stuff.

What's even stranger is that when Ether comes into contact with said materials, the unravelling process doesn't release heat. Rather, uncompressed Ether is released into the air, giving off a strange glow of light as it does so.

Not to say Ether is the perfect weapon. In fact it's downright finicky and rather limited if we're being honest here. Ether weaponry is limited by three very important factors.

Range, upkeep, and conflicting Ether.

First off the issue of distance. Compressing Ether is an unnatural action, and like anything else in nature being unnaturally used, it tries to return to it's normal form as quickly as possible. Most infantry sized Ether weapons don't have a range farther than one hundred meters, not exactly great for most long range shootouts. Skell sized weapons have a bit longer of a reach, but it's still only about three hundred meters. Considering that the Ares has quite a bit of Ether weaponry I'm curious to see just how far they can fire.

The upkeep is a second strike in my book. The technology required to fire highly condensed Ether bolts is bulky and fragile, and can easily backfire on it's user if things go wrong. After all, when your gun that fires disintegration bolts suddenly goes haywire, things can get interesting real quick.

The third reason pretty closely ties into the second. While deadly, there is one very specific, very powerful counter to the condensed energy. Which is Ether itself. Creating a passive Ether field around yourself or your Skell can stop Ether weaponry cold, as the fields will reflect off of each other, rendering the weapon useless.

So in summary: Lacks range, pain in the ass to keep working, easy to defend against as long as you're forewarned.

I'll take good old fashioned ballistic weaponry over that stuff any day.

Which is also why I'm massively surprised that when the Aghasura Cannon fires from more than a thousand meters away not only does the beam stay compressed, it drills _through_ Eckart and shoots out of it's back, tearing through a tree trunk and causing the thing to collapse.

Eckart falls flat with an anticlimactic thud, barely even making a sound since the beam went right through it's brain.

I'm silent for a moment as I take in what just happened. I'd test fired the cannon at _fifty_ percent power for a fifth of a second, and that blast had killed a previously near unstoppable Tyrant with barely an effort.

At all.

Alexa gives voice to our reactions as she breathlessly says, " _Holy crap…_ ".

I'm inclined to agree.

"Commander, you've been holding out on us with this thing. In between the weapons and propulsion systems you could revolutionize our entire Skell force. What's the catch?"

It's actually Elma who answers with, "Mostly because we don't have the manufacturing capability to build something like the Ares 90 yet. Most of the tech on that Skell is irreplaceable for the foreseeable future. It's kind of a Frankenstein with tech from the Vita, Xe-Doms and Seidrs mixed together."

I sigh and reply, "So this is what we've got for now huh?"

"Indeed. So don't break it."

"I'll try my upmost. Besides, I think I'm falling in love with this thing."

"Don't let Celica hear you say that."

I roll my eyes and turn around to head back to the city.

I think I'm going to enjoy my time training with the Ares _very_ much.

* * *

The next four days set a hectic and busy pattern. Wake up at 0530, consider checking in at the city psychiatrist for my nightmares which _still_ haven't abated, then realize in a few days time we'll all be dead or we'll be alive, at which time I can then solve my mental issues.

Until 0900 I'll be in meetings with various military planners, usually including Nagi, Vandham and H.B., who was promoted to second in command of NLA's armed forces.

I never thought it was possible for H.B. to become more self-confident/absorbed, but that just goes to show how little I know, now doesn't it?

Said meetings are usually devoted with tactics and strategies revolving around my preparation with the Ares, and ways to ensure that I can face Nardacyon without any other Ganglion interfering.

No pressure there.

From 0900 to 1500 I'll be practicing with the Ares 90, getting as much practice in as I can before we actually go into combat. After a short break at 1530 I'll meet up with my team and we'll practice Skell maneuvers until 2100, usually having mock dogfights with other teams.

I hate the fact that after finally getting the balls to ask out Celica, the little time we get to spend together is largely restricted to training and discussions on squad tactics. That's not to say we never get to have any relaxing conversations though. The five of us manage to have fun even in the middle of pretty Spartan training, which keeps me sane since I have to deal with the humorless drones from the Restricted Hangar for six hours of the day. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss just having time for the two of us though.

From 2200 to 2400 I meet up with Zo Ozuchi, Gi Zang and on two separate occasions Nagi for personal combat training. I'm by no means the best infighter on this planet, and until the time I can beat Zo Ozuchi in three consecutive matches, as well as beat Nagi in _Kendo_ , I'm going to keep on getting better. Gi Zang is an excellent sparring partner, just good enough that he can occasionally win against me, and quite knowledgable of guerrilla tactics that even Ozuchi and Nagi didn't know of.

From 0100 to 0300 it's study time, catching up on Earth literature and movies. Can't neglect that stuff, even if armageddon is rolling closer. Thank God I don't need to sleep much.

We got a pleasant surprise on the fifth and sixth days however.

* * *

"Cross you've got incoming friendlies at two o' clock, mind running escort duty?"

"In this thing? Wow, someone's been saving their VIP points big time."

"We here at NLA offer nothing but the best in customer satisfaction and care, of that means we have to send out a highly deadly and experimental Skell to play tour guide, then so be it."

I snort at the operators banter. It feels good to actually have a human speaking over the intercom for once when I'm piloting the Ares, instead of the usual robots. Orienting myself I goose the engines and start flying towards the oncoming cloud of friendlies, wondering where this many machines are being transferred in from.

I take a closer look and realize they're flying in from Oblivia, then smile as I figure out what that means. Sure enough once I get into visual range I count eighteen Caladors flying in formation, with the Vasara leading them. I open up a communication's channel and then grandly state, "Welcome to NLA your highness, home of your most humble allies and a place of many species to gather and find friendship. We also have the best food."

Amusement in his deep voice, Ga Jiarg replies, "I have room in my kingdom for a court jester. Would you consider taking over the position Cross?"

"Knew it was me huh?"

"No one else I'm familiar with manages to speak so much yet say so little."

"Ouch. Well if the whole 'warrior of Humanity' gig falls through I'll happily take you up on that offer."

Ga Buidhe laughs along with a few others as I pull the Ares alongside their formation.

"Good to see you haven't lost your sense of irreverent humor."

"And it's very good to see you too Ga Buidhe. Been keeping the Prince out of trouble?"

"Wroth only knows I've tried. But I think we both know how receptive he is to people telling him not to take risks."

"About as receptive as I am then. My condolences."

"I thank you for your understanding."

Clearing his throat Ga Jiarg interrupts with equal parts amusement and irritation.

"It's reassuring how comfortable my retainers feel around me, seeing as how they are so bold with their statements in my presence. Moving on, that is an interesting Skell you're piloting Cross. Is it a new design?"

"You bet it is, and boy is it a piece of work."

"Very compelling. All for the coming war yes?"

"This machine and a few others, but overall that's an affirmative. I take it you and your soldiers are here for a piece of the action?"

"How could we turn down an opportunity to simultaneously aid our allies and wipe out the damned Ganglion?"

"Works for me. And to be totally honest I'm relieved as well. Have you seen the size of the force we're up against?"

"I was given a brief explanation, but not a complete accounting. Is it that much of a numbers disparity?"

"…pretty much, yah. So like I said, glad to see you guys."

There's sudden boisterous laughter over the comm.

"Then it is quite fortunate for you that we, the Three Talons, have come to aid you in your time of need!"

"I think I'd rather take my chance with a sleep deprived Nopon behind the controls than you Da Naguth."

"An Insult?! As soon as this battle is over, we shall have a rematch to determine just who was aiding who!"

I hear Da Gihri snicker and say, "He still hasn't gotten over how we had to accept your help when killing the Jacul Queen. These past few months he's been training as if possessed."

Da Zeulbe offers his own amused comment of, "Is it possession or simple jealousy that fuels his recent drive? We can only wonder…"

"I see Cross is not the only one who is asking for a lesson at the hands of Da Naguth! You two shall be right behind him!"

As the three continue to bicker I give an amused look towards the Vasara, and if I ddin't know any better I'd say the machine looked defeated.

As if to confirm that notion I hear the Wrothian Prince mutter, " _These_ are some of the finest Wrothian soldiers? Starts have mercy on me…"

* * *

It was on the sixth day, one day before we were scheduled to leave for the waters between Primordia and Sylvalum that we got our last surprise.

And wow, was it an unexpected one.

After the Wrothians had arrived morale in NLA shot up by a noticeable amount, and it showed in the inter-squad competitions. My team and the Fenrirs, Wolf's own group, had been locked in a tense aerial duel for almost three straight minutes when our comms blared to life.

"All Skell teams outside the city limits! I repeat, _all_ Skell teams outside the city limits! We've received data that indicates four Xe-dom are approaching the city, with one Skell class unit leading them! All current assignments are suspended until further information is available!"

I inwardly curse at the news. We'd hoped that the Ganglion would be too busy with their own mobilization to mess with ours, but apparently that's not the case. Even worse, they sent _four_ Xe-dom to screw with us. If our intelligence is up to date, that's a whole third of known Xe-dom that the Ganglion have repurposed to their own needs.

While not quite as bad as a Xern, Xe-dom have their own unique brand of lethality that makes them absolute terrors on a battlefield. Aside from the impressive laser and beam weaponry that manages to be both powerful _and_ accurate, their arm appendages can contract and extend at astonishing velocities, easily tearing right through the armor of a Skell. And speaking of armor, their exteriors are ridiculously strong, easily shrugging off bullets and missiles with barely a scratch.

While that's all well and sucky, that level of armament would merely make them extremely dangerous. What graduates them to the level of straight bloody nightmare is their ability to manipulate gravity in a limited space around them.

Getting within fifteen meters of a Xe-dom is generally not advised, since they can suddenly increase the gravity around them by almost twentyfold, turning you into something resembling a liquid pancake if you're unfortunate enough to be caught inside of it. Or, just as annoyingly, instead of crushing you, they'll just smash whatever projectiles you fired at them with machine like precision with said field.

Engaging Xe-dom with anything less than two full squads of heavily armed Skells is widely considered to be an incredibly retarded life choice.

And apparently there's four of the damned things headed our way. Stellar.

The one Skell accompanying them is kind of weird, but until we make visual confirmation I can only guess as to what it's story is. Dammit if only I was piloting the Ares right now…then again it'd make for a pretty lopsided mat if I was piloting that thing against the other teams.

Wolf's voice snaps me out of my reverie and he barks, "Ok kiddies listen up! The rest of the cities defenses are coming online, our job is to scout out exactly what we're up against and maybe run a little misdirection. DO NOT attempt to engage. That clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"Excellent, now let's move!"

We slide into formation with practiced ease and accelerate towards the oncoming intruders. Once we enter visual range we kill our speed and take a moment to size up the approaching force. A quick scan shows the four Xe-dom as expected, but immediately I notice something strange. There's one Xe-dom of each crest color floating along.

One gold, silver, black and crimson apiece. Which is bizarre, since Xe-doms tend to be color coordinated by each continent. It's not a full-proof system, but definitely a good rule of thumb. Seeing four different variations in one group is straight up unheard of. Ignoring the Xe-dom for now I turnkey attention to the Skell…and sigh dejectedly as everything suddenly makes sense.

I open up a comm channel and tiredly say, "Stand down everyone, they're friendly."

I hear practically hear Wolf frowning an he dubiously replies, "You sure? That's a mighty big assumption we're taking."

"Don't sweat it, I'll prove it to you right now."

I open up a channel to the outrageously purple Amdusias and say, "Long time no see L. Just thought I should let you know, right now you're IFF tag is deactivated, and you're about to be blown into next week."

"Heavens! We could have sworn we turned the infernal contraption back on after…and voilá! All spit and spandex now!"

The Skell suddenly displays a green tinged I.D. tag and I hear a few relieved breaths over the squad communications channel.

"So it looks like you and Professor B have been busy for the last few weeks."

"Most certainly! It has been a wonderful time exploring the planet with my newest colleague, so many impressive sights were seen!"

"Good to hear."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…you gonna tell me why four Xe-dom are following you around like trained puppies?"

"Oh certainly! We were merely waiting for you to ask! We had been scouring the just deserts of Oblivia when we, quite by accident, stumbled upon a cave of wonders containing these lovely machines!"

"By accident?"

"Perchance we, hmm, 'freedomed' said information from some woefully negligent Ganglion asscaves! Thus, before they knew what smacked them we had absconded with their prize!"

I snort at L's typical flair for the dramatic, but can't deny the results.

"Hey move aside already would yah? I need to talk to the kid for a second."

"How crude! We are less than an hour from the city, you could simply wait as opposed to-"

"Yah yah very uncomfortable touchy feely and all that. Hey kid! I know I'm the president of a company and all that, but a &#*$^! of ten robots is a little excessive don't yah think?"

"Actually your machines IFF was deactivated, so we were actually ready to blow you to pieces."

I hear him mutter under his breath for a few seconds before saying, "Knew we were forgetting something dammit. Ah well we brought something interesting back with us, maybe that'll net me a nice bonus paycheck."

I snort and look at the four monolithic machines.

"Trust me Professor, I'm certain you're going to be _very_ well compensated. I think Veven's gonna wet himself with excitement."

* * *

The day of departure. I sigh and run a hand through my hair as I walk onto the main launch pad, where dozens of Skells of various designs are currently waiting for takeoff. I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn't a little anxious about my coming role in the battle ahead, since a fairly significant part of the plan is hinging on me.

…Ok, maybe _very_ anxious.

Not that I'm gonna show it. It's subtle, but there's a certain tenseness to the various BLADEs getting their machines primed to launch. Not that I blame them, rumor has it that the lowest casualty estimate is a lucky two-fiver.

Meaning one out of four BLADEs will certainly 'die' in the coming battle. And, just to repeat, that's the _lowest_ estimate. Some pessimistic bastard even predicted that eight out of ten BLADEs would be waking up in the Lifehold, an insanely high casualty rate.

I wrench my thoughts away from the coming battle and try to focus on something else. Spotting a group of Human, Prone and Wrothians in front of a few helicopters I walk on over, curious as to what their purpose is. Getting closer I notice that I'm familiar with almost every one of the people currently present. I recognize Garroway and his soldiers, Slovity Pagus, Zarch Quokett, Gi Zang, Zo Ozuchi, Gi Ziorde and Gi Ziordo. I smile as Zarch and Slovity try their hardest to ignore each other and not attack one another. As I get closer I notice Zarch's trained Suid, Odsent suddenly stand up and start nuzzling my hand with his massive snout.

A proud look on his face Zarch says, "Oh ho! Looks like Odsent remembers one who bested him many times! Well met Cross!"

"Good to see you again Zarch. What are all of you doing here?"

Gi Zang saunters over with a smug look on his face and humbly says, "Ah well you see, not all of us were to be graced with the presence of a Skell. Thus, us mere foot soldiers will have to content ourselves with raiding largely emptied Ganglion bases and seizing them from second-rate guards who won't even know what hit them."

I take a glance at everyone assembled and can't help but agree with that assessment.

"Cross, are you feeling well?"

"Why, do I look weird?"

He quietly looks at me for a second before shrugging.

"Normally you would have some snide comment or rebuttal. Instead you merely seemed content with my explanation."

I'm about to retort with something more in line with his expectations but suddenly find it way too troublesome. Plus Gi Zang would probably see right through it anyway.

"I guess I'm a little preoccupied, tense even. Which is new territory for me honestly. Normally I can ignore my fear with zero issues, but this time? It's not so easy."

He nods and consolingly says, "If you don't mind me saying so, perhaps now that you care about a great many people, this large of an operation has you more aware of how many might not make it back. Don't take this the wrong way, but when we first met you seemed to have a far smaller circle of friends."

I wince as his words seem right on the money, judging by how much hearing them sucks.

"That sounds about right, as painful as it is to admit." I glance at my timepiece and sigh.

"Alright I need to get moving, it's almost time for us to head out to Alpha Base."

He nods and clasps my shoulder.

"Good hunting Cross. And bring yourself back in one piece."

I return his gesture and reply, "Same to you. It wouldn't be fair for you to go off and die after telling me that I'm freaked because of such a scenario."

He snorts and waves me off. I give a nod to everyone else and they return it, with Garroway giving a lazy wave instead. Arriving at the Ares 90 I hop onboard and start the machine, feeling some of my anxiety drain away as the reactor begins to gently hum. Amazing what having an awesome weapon will do for one's self-confidence.

"Assault squad one you are cleared for departure. Launch by squads."

There's a sudden howl as twenty Skells engage their main drives and lift off from the launch pad, then orient themselves towards Sylvalum. Slowly accelerating in lines of five the whole group proceeds to hit cruising velocity. Five more groups and change just like this one will eventually be leaving the city, totaling at one hundred forty two machines once all forces are accounted for, including the garrison already at Alpha Base.

As we fly over the city walls I take a look at the four reasons we can field this many machines and smile appreciatively. The four Xe-dom L and Professor B brought back are patrolling the walls in a rotating pattern, freeing up the Skells that were pegged for guard duty to join the main force.

There was some debate over whether to include the Xe-doms in the main force, since their presence would massively impact the battle overall. That idea had been shot down once Professor B and Veven had intervened. While B had managed to do some basic programming, enough of their systems were new to him that he couldn't do a complete job.

The fact that B finds the Xe-doms systems unfamiliar is just one more mystery on the slowly growing mountain we already have.

Regardless, with only very limited commands available, no one wanted to risk them suddenly going all Skynet in the middle of the battle, so they're holding down the fort instead, letting us focus on doing our jobs without worrying about home.

…Home. I wonder when it was that I first started thinking of NLA as a place to come back once the day was over, rather than just a backdrop to work in. You'd think that would be an important moment for me.

Or maybe not, actually. It very well might have just happened gradually without me being any the wiser. Strange world.

"Something on your mind?"

I glance out of the corner of my eye and see Celica's image on one of the viewscreens and give a bemused smile.

"How is it that you somehow always seem to know when I'm thinking about deep matters?"

"We'd be a rather miserable couple if we weren't able to read each other at least a little bit."

"Can't argue with that logic…I was actually just wondering when I started to think of NLA as home."

"Is that the sort of thing you can just narrow down to one moment of realization?"

"Probably not…do you have a moment or event that let you realize this was your home?"

"I do actually" she grins in a self-satisfied way. "But it's a secret."

"Well that's no fair."

"I'll tell you when we get back, how does that sound?"

"What a wonderful motivator. I think I'll do just that."

We banter back and forth as we continue our flight, leaving our home behind to slowly fade away over the horizon.

But only for now.

* * *

 **Whew, finally got the correct file to upload. Apologies for the rushed job there but I've come to realize that I take deadlines almost seriously.**

 **Almost.**

 **I actually don't have much to say in this little afterword, so hmm...What to do.**

 **Q &A time then!**

 **A guest reviewer recently asked why Earth meat was considered so rare given it's constant use in the storyline. Ideally it shouldn't be considered a rarity, but since the Lifehold is non-operational still, the ability to create Earth fauna is a no-go (What DID ever happen to that cat they left floating in one of the baths? I assume it'll show up as a DLC boss). And after a year plus change, stocks are running low.**

 **In response to VentusBrawler: You guessed it, I didn't even know that Justin had a second quest. I've run past him so many times with no further quest mark I assumed his story was over (obviously still missing some pre-requisites then).**

 **So yah, next chapter will be the showdown between NLA and Nahum's army. Prepare for Skell combat galore!**

 **(Insert words of thanks for reading story here)**


	9. Chapter 9: Cut Loose

Ch 9: Cut Loose

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."

― **G.K. Chesterton**

"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."

― **Robert A. Heinlein**

* * *

"So here's an interesting thought. What if you were suddenly given the power of a god, right here right now? What would be the first thing you change about our universe with your godly power?"

I give an irritated huff at Mia's rambling.

"I'd probably get rid of, 'what if' questions, thus saving all of the galaxy from a life of intellectual sin."

"Aw c'mon Chief lighten up a little! It's not like you to be all tense before we even get to the fighting part."

"It's not the fighting I'm worried about. It's the fact that I'm trying to simultaneously keep you entertained, fill out this paperwork _and_ ignore the fact that the only unoccupied chair in this entire base was a storage crate that is currently deforming my rear end."

"Your butt cheeks aside, when's the big strategy meeting happening?"

"In about an hour or so. I hope Nagi or Vandham show up to run it, or else H.B. is gonna turn this planning op into a political diatribe."

She shivers.

"Ugh, I wish I could pretend you're exaggerating."

"Funny, I feel the same way."

We continue our pointless banter as time goes by. Celica, Julun and Vi are currently performing final maintenance checks on their Skells, so Mia had predictably gotten bored and started talking to me instead, since seemingly everyone in the base was busy with one task or another.

Which is kinda to be expected honestly. Alpha Base is practically overflowing with both people and machines at this point. One hundred forty two Skells, seven hundred fifty five personal of varying species, and who knows how many storage vehicles and containers make for a very crowded workplace.

My comm chimes at me and I stand up, happily throwing away the tablet that had all the forms on it. Time to do something actually productive.

"Alright Mia it's been almost fun talking to you, gotta get going to the meeting of big cheeses."

"Ugh fine then. Guess I'll go try to find some other people who are currently bored out of their minds."

"Only you could manage to be bored on the eve of the apocalypse."

"Don't exaggerate."

I snort and wave as I walk off.

* * *

"I thank you all for coming, as of now we'll commence our final meeting before engaging the Ganglion. Any final questions or concerns about the battle plan we have devised should be asked now, as there will certainly not be an opportunity to ask later."

I snort, a gesture mirrored by the other occupants of the room. Thankfully Nagi flew out to Alpha Base to facilitate this meeting, and is going to be staying at the fortress until the conflict is decided one way or another.

I take a moment to glance around the room, a re-purposed Ganglion lookout bunker, and do a quick headcount of who's attending. For the Wrothians Ga Jiarg and Ga Buidhe are in attendance, Walter is representing the special weapons squad, while twenty three Skell team leaders are in attendance. I had been surprised to see Sharon leading her old squad alongside the rest of us, but she had made it quite clear to me that keeping NLA from being burnt to the ground was in her business's best interest.

Which isn't wrong really.

"No questions? Very well, let's begin. First off is the matter of who will be in command once the battle begins. Myself and Vandham will be monitoring the battle, but will be unable to actively give commands. To that end we have given field command over to Captain Birtwhistle, who will be giving commands as he sees fit."

Captain huh? I take a glance at H.B. and see him standing even straighter than normal, something not easily accomplished.

"On to the actual plan itself. The main thrust of the operation will be to destroy the Ganglion's Xern fortress ships. If we can remove them from the field, we can engage the Ganglion Skell forces directly, and achieve victory in that manner. The trick will be getting close enough to deploy our heavy weaponry against the Ganglion. They'll naturally be suspicious as to why we're engaging them in such a direct manner, and will be closely watching for any sign of a threat. To that end we've come up with a course of action that'll hopefully allow us to close the distance. We'll go over the details and timing in a moment."

Displaying an image of Nardacyon on a nearby holo terminal Nagi looks at me.

"Once the Xerns have been dealt with, we will begin to engage the Ganglion's mechanized divisions. The Wrothian Caladors will split into four groups of four and one group of three. You will act as a reactionary force, moving to assist squads that are either being overwhelmed or pushed back. Lieutenant Cross, you will stay out of the initial assault and wait until Nardacyon moves to engage. As soon as it does, our forces will clear a path and allow you to fight it without distraction. Is that acceptable?"

Ga Jiarg nods and confidently replies, "We will handle our task flawlessly, leave your backs to us."

I glance at everyone's faces and find them nodding in agreement. I let out a resigned sigh that doesn't go unnoticed by Nagi.

"Is there something you want to add Cross?"

"No, it's a sound plan…I'm just not used to sitting on the sidelines waiting for the enemy to make the first move."

That earns a few smirks from those around us and Nagi gives a small smile.

"Well this'll be a good learning experience for you. I wouldn't worry regardless, I can't imagine Nardacyon waiting very long before engaging us."

Turning back to the room at large he says, "Now let's go over the more specific details of the operation…"

* * *

I let out a shaky breath and unclench my fist as I walk towards my squadmates, who are waiting for me before we launch. It's been about two hours since the meeting ended and it's the point of no return now.

Being a bundle of nerves is new territory for me. Normally I can push my fear aside, or at least ignore it…lately I haven't been able to do so. All my calming exercises do is lessen my anxiety, whereas before they could eliminate it entirely.

Honestly, I'm scared by that. In between the nightmares and my gradually degrading composure a part of me is wondering how long it'll be before I snap completely and do something stupid.

Well, stupider than usual.

"…ief. Hey Chief!"

"No need to shout Mia, my ears are working fine so please refrain from trying to break them."

"I dunno if they're working all _that_ great Chief, I was yelling at you for like five seconds."

"I know, I was just ignoring you."

I get four disbelieving looks and give a defeated sigh. Guess my attempt at levity wasn't as slick as I thought it was.

Julun carefully says, "Cross, it normal to be worried. No shame in admitting fear of loss, whether it be your own or others."

I scowl and stare at my right hand, which has started to tremble, if only imperceptibly.

"I know, but…this isn't how I usually am."

Vi raises an eyebrow.

"You mean you've usually not a person with a completely normal emotional response right before a life-or-death battle? Could have fooled me."

"You _know_ what I mean Vi. I've always been scared before and during fights, but it's never been so, well, overwhelming as it is now. For Christ's sake, I'm _shaking_."

My hand is suddenly covered by Celica's and she gently squeezes it, ceasing my trembling as she gives a peaceful smile.

"Then perhaps you merely need a few other helping hands to stop it."

She guides my hand out to the center of our little grouping and everyone else puts a hand on top of our my own.

Mia grins and shouts, "Go Team Cross!"

I give a defeated grimace.

"Again, not liking that name."

"Too bad Chief, we're going with it."

I snort and take a look around at my friends faces, all displaying nothing but camaraderie and confidence.

"…And thanks guys. C'mon, let's get suited up and ready to fly!"

With a nod Vi, Julun and Mia all run off to their machines while I turn to Celica with a small smile on my face.

"And thanks to you especially."

"Well it's nice to be appreciated by my mopey boyfriend."

I give a genuine chuckle at that and we share a rather fierce kiss before separating to our respective mechs.

Time to go to war.

* * *

"All teams report in!"

"Team Grasida, roger!" Yelv's squad.

"Team Howlrunners, roger!"

"Team Trishula, roger!" Alexa's squad.

"Team Knightwatch, roger!"

"Team Safari, roger!"

"Team Ningirsu, roger!" Sharon's squad.

"Team Leathernecks, roger!"

"Team Balmung, roger!" Now under Richard's command.

"Team Rotweiler, roger!"

"Team Velshtein, roger!"

"Team Outback, roger!" Corwin's squad.

"Team Viper, roger!"

"Team Doughboys, roger!" Doug's squad

"Team Heartbreak, roger!"

"Team Elma, roger!" Elma's squad, obviously.

"Team Zulu, roger!"

"Team Bulwark, roger!"

"Team Hammer, roger!" Boze's squad.

"Team Estoc, roger!"

"Team Chaser, roger!" Wolf's squad.

"Team Partisan, roger!"

"Team Cross, roger!"…I can't believe I just said that.

"And Team Surtr, reporting in. Special squads, announce readiness." That's H.B.'s squad, who'll be running guard duty for him while he runs the battle.

"Warriors of Wroth, standing ready." Ga Jiarg and his group of warriors.

"Heavy weapons squad Cataclysm, standing by!" That's Walter, in charge of the eight Skells toting our nastiest armaments.

As we finish our call signs there's a moment of tense silence before H.B. speaks up with raw authority in his voice.

"All right everyone listen up! The Ganglion have bloodied our noses several times these past few weeks, and are now aiming to destroy the only home we know. This isn't like the battle of the Lifehold, where just us Humans were at risk. Every being in NLA, whether Wrothian or Human, Ma-non or Orphean, Zaruboggan or Nopon is counting on us to keep them safe and come back home in one piece. Now let's show the Ganglion a fight they'll never forget!"

There's a chorus of amped up 'yes sirs!' once H.B. finishes his little pep talk. Well whaddya know? I guess H.B. can be quite inspirational when he bothers to be.

"Two minutes to point of no return. Any final words for us Cross, Mr. hero of NLA?"

I almost gag in surprise and I hear a collection of snickers over the comm as everyone hears my less than composed reaction. I scowl at H.B.'s machine and make a mental note to seek revenge at the first opportunity. If we're still alive after this.

"Well you're kinda putting me on the spot here Captain, so I'm just gonna go with the words of someone far more eloquent than me. 'Vengeance is mine, saith the lord, but this morning he's going to fucking well have to share'."

There's a chorus of rambunctious hoots and cheers at that and I practically hear the smile in H.B.'s voice as he says, "That'll make a good opener for our after-action report. All squads, prepare for operation Agincourt!"

"YES SIR!"

All one hundred forty two Skells shift into a trapezoidal formation, with team Cataclysm safely ensconced in the center, while the Wrothians float along the sides. My squad along with the Vasara, flanked by Ga Buidhe and Ni Zinga, are just slightly behind the heavy weapons group, waiting for when we'll be needed.

As we streak along the surface of the water my scanners suddenly start chiming like crazy and we get our first glimpse at the Ganglion forces. The Xerns are immediately noticeable as they clear the rolling waves of morning fog that rolls in along the coastal lines, monolithic and intimidating despite their admittedly impressive majesty. The smaller Skells, even the Seidrs, are only distinguishable as a disperse cloud of fuzzy dots at this distance, even with 2x magnification.

I hear a few scattered mutters across the comm channels, which I completely sympathize with. It's one thing to hear the numbers, another thing entirely to see them.

"Ten seconds until operation start! Nine…eight…seven…"

I release my pent up breath and settle into my combat-oriented frame of mind.

Let's do this.

"Two…one, begin operation!"

Coinciding with H.B.'s words a swarm of fifty cruise missiles launched from Alpha Base streak past our formation, flying directly towards the Ganglion armada. They close to within twenty-one kilometers, half the distance between our approaching force and the Ganglions, before a storm of point-defense laser fire and intercept missiles meet them.

All part of the plan.

Every time a missile is hit it releases a rapidly expanding cloud of chaff, similar to the stuff we use in the 'smoke' grenades. By the time every missile is hit the cloud has expanded to completely obscure visual targeting as well as instrument detection. Both sides are effectively blind for the next few minutes until the cloud is picked apart by the shifting winds.

Which is where the final ten missiles that lagged slightly behind the initial fifty come into play. Quickly ascending above the cloud they break apart and shotgun blast one hundred modified hopper cams into the airspace. Quickly linking their cameras with the six Mastema's wielding our trump cards, targeting solutions and distances are quickly correlated as the mini satellites spread out, trying to offer as many different angles as possible to get the most accurate information we can.

There's not going to be a second chance for this.

Ten aggravating seconds pass as the satellites continue to drift apart and feed information to the Mastemas…before precision beam and laser fire begin to take out the satellites. I clench my jaw and sure enough H.B. calmly states over the comm, "Prepare for scenario A, I repeat, prepare for scenario A."

Scenario A was considered the most likely response by the Ganglion, considering how careful and decisive their newfound leadership is. It's the best decision any military commander could make in this scenario, which is why we're expecting it.

* * *

As an intelligent Ganglion commander, what do you do in this situation when you know your foe is at the very least competent, if not just as smart as you? Engaging your larger army head on is a losing strategy, especially with the Xerns backing your forces up. So the smokescreen is obviously a means to hide whatever counter plan they have cooked up. That theory is practically confirmed when a small flotilla of unmanned drones appears and starts creating a highly obvious, if not effective, targeting array. Self-evidently the enemy has a means of attacking from a great distance with a weapon they believe will be effective.

At this point you have a few options to choose from.

Option one: Assume the enemy is bluffing, trying to scare you away from your advance with threats from some unseen weapon. But that seems like an uncharacteristic maneuver, as well as an expensive one considering how much material was spent into creating that illusion. Long range cruise missiles and high end chaff don't just grow on trees.

Second option: Try to quickly eliminate the drone cloud as quickly as possible, thereby denying the enemy a chance to accurately aim their weapons and continue your advance, at the risk of not eliminating the machines in time and exposing your forces to these unknown devices.

Option three: Realize that since the enemy went to all the trouble of creating such an expensive defense, the weapons themselves must be fragile or at the very least susceptible to attack. They must also take a significant amount of time to prepare, or why would they bother with the protective screen at all? Therefore, quickly sending your fastest forces to find and destroy these contraptions before they fire, while expensive, will obviously cripple the opposing forces strength.

Being a clever and ruthless Ganglion tactician, you immediately consider and decide on option three, since it's the best decision you can make given your limited knowledge. The funny thing is, option three would actually work and net you a win if it weren't for two very lethal weapons that were prepared for just such a scenario.

* * *

"Fifty-one seconds and counting. Stay sharp people."

The tension is an almost tangible thing at this point. The satellites are still being destroyed at a fairly steady rate, but at this pace we'll still be able to pull off an uninterrupted volle-

"Contact! Ganglion missile barrage incoming! Almost a thousand…number still rising…two thousand…three thousand warheads confirmed. Thirty-six Fal-Swo machines inbound as well!"

"Just as predicted." H.B. mutters with a note of grim satisfaction, "All forces stay in formation and stick to the plan!"

There's another fifteen seconds of agonizing waiting before the first missiles start looping around the smokescreen (the cloud would have disrupted their tracking) and hit the afterburners, rocketing towards any target they can find.

More than a hundred machines open fire, quickly ripping apart the leading wall of warheads in a deluge of gunfire, but more and more just keep coming. To make matters worse, the small fleet of Fal-Swo break through the disruption cloud and make a beeline for our six artillery pieces. Our forces can either ignore the missile barrage and take down the Fal-Swo, taking horrendous casualties in the process, or focus on the deluge of rockets, leaving our long range weaponry completely undefended. It's a pick your poison scenario.

Time to bring in the big guns.

As if reading my mind I hear Walter snap, "Linda, Cortez, you're up!"

The two Skells quickly move forward, each toting a different, 'Super Weapon'. Linda's is toting a Drone Storm, while Cortez's is packing a Barrage Cloak. I tear my eyes away from the ongoing fight against the Ganglion's barrage to watch the two machines deploy their weapons.

This is gonna be _sweet_.

With the Fal-Swo quickly closing the distance, The giant rack on the back of Linda's Skell suddenly splits open, releasing a dozen vaguely shuriken shaped disks slightly smaller than an average Human that hover around her machine. Suddenly blurring into motion they flash towards the approaching horde of Fal-Swo…and suddenly entire machines start to tumble from the sky, neatly bifurcated.

Each of the disk's edges is coated with a diamond reinforced metal alloy that you would usually only find on _very_ advanced industrial grade cutting implements. It's expensive, difficult to make, and tough as Hell. Take those edges, and picture them spinning at a bit more than ten _thousand_ RPMs. Then imagine a dozen of those traveling at almost twice the speed of sound, kept in very tight and lethal orbits by an advanced magnetic guidance system.

Long story short, the hardened metal composite hulls of the Fal-Swo are about as effective as warm cheese against the onslaught. For every second the Fal-Swo spend closing the distance, two of them are quickly torn to pieces.

With that threat quickly marginalized I turn back to the onslaught of missiles, which is quickly becoming overwhelming.

Which is where The Barrage Cloak comes in. While there's nothing too radical in terms of technology here, just like with the Drone Storm it's the application of said technology that really shines. The Cloak is basically eight shield like emitters with almost a dozen focusing lenses spaced out across it's surface. Channeling power into each of the emitters creates a very focused, very intense laser to be fired from the lenses. Nothing too special, but it's the targeting system behind it that is nothing short of astounding. While it's called the Barrage Cloak, it's more of a surgical instrument than it is anything else. Very advanced targeting algorithms that update themselves every tenth of a second ensure that no amount of energy is ever wasted, and every shot is precisely aimed to cause the least amount of overlap. Subtle movements of the emitters provide very fast and smooth targeting of fast moving objects, and the sheer volume of fire makes it perfect for mass removal of small, fast moving targets.

Like thousands of missiles, for instance. Wrapping itself in the eight emitters, Cortez's Skell suddenly begins to glow, invisible lines of energy reaching out to destroy the oncoming warheads with lethal precision.

While I say invisible, at this point there's so much smoke and other minute debris drifting through the air that the lasers themselves are practically visible as they burn through all the drifting detritus.

And do they ever burn. Almost sixty missiles per second wink out, heated and then destroyed as their own payloads prematurely detonate. Not that anyone would care about my opinion, but I sincerely wish the Barrage Cloak would have had it's name changed to 'Disco Death'.

"Twenty-three seconds until firing commences."

For a brief moment I entertain the notion that we might get through this with no initial losses…but it's simply not meant to be.

While The Drone Storm and Barrage Cloak are practically built for scenarios such as these, at the end of the day there's simply too many Ganglion targets to deal with. Linda's machine suddenly takes a direct SHD cannon shot to the chest, killing her and trashing the Skells reactor. With the guidance cut off and no additional power incoming, the blades cease their relentless assault and fall to the ocean like so many discarded flower petals.

Cortez's Skell doesn't fare any better. Three thousand missiles is just too many to deal with, even with the Barrage Cloak backed up by all the other Skells. It doesn't take much, just one fast moving rocket to impact and destroy one side of the Cloak, and then five more warheads quickly slam home, utterly annihilating the machine.

I hear a few muttered curses over the comm and clench my jaw. Linda and Cortez knew they'd likely be singled out one way or another wielding those things, but had gone ahead and done it anyway.

Brave bastards.

"Last Cam has just been destroyed, we're blind here Captain! Permission to commence firing?"

"Granted, take the shot!"

There was still sixteen seconds to go but with six Fal-Swo swooping towards the Superweapon laden Skells and the missile barrage still going strong, we'll just have to take our chances with a rushed targeting job. The last twenty seconds were mostly for the benefit of the Hexad-Particannons we have set up anyway. The heavy hitters, the Zenith-Cannon and Antimatter-Rail Cannon are already set up and ready to fire.

Time for some serious payback.

* * *

Nahum wasn't anxious so much as anticipatory. Nevertheless she was mentally reprimanding herself for becoming overconfident in her forces ability to simply overcome the Humans, and wouldn't be making that same mistake twice. With the sheer military might under her command as well as the return of her Nardacyon, she had allowed herself to become complacent for no excusable reason.

What she should have done was split her force into several smaller groups that could react quickly to unforeseen situations or ambushes, instead of one slow moving, albeit powerful, blob. While any attacks by the Humans would have been able to catch one of these hypothetical groups by surprise and inflict losses, at least she would have the option of then encircling and outmaneuvering the offending forces,

Instead, like some novice commander overconfident of their technological might and numerical superiority, she had instead decided to simply steamroll the opposition, denying herself many tactical options.

Unforgivable.

Self-loathing aside, she was confident that she had responded quickly enough to the Humans unexpected tactics that major damage might be avoided by whatever surprise they were hoping to spring. There were some advantages to having her forces travel in a close-knit formation admittedly. She had quickly been able to dispatch her fastest moving forces and hopefully overwhelm the enemy with a missile barrage before they could implement their strategy.

That notion was quickly abandoned when her sensors suddenly started pinging madly as several different sources of energy suddenly started spiking in the area.

There were five sources in all, and they were all originating from the Human's forces.

This was quickly turning into her worse case scenario. Had she a face like a Humans, capable of a wide range of physical emotion, her eyes would have been bulging right now. That one emission coming from the center of the readings…was that a _micro-singularity_?!

Her suspicions we confirmed as less than a second later the dispersing smokescreen the Humans had set up suddenly seemed to twist upon itself and then bulge outwards, as if trying to follow something. She could have sworn that the ocean itself seemed to rise a few meters, as if being pulled in the wake of some unimaginably strong force. Her forces were only slightly displaced by the passing thing, except for one unlucky Qmoeva that suddenly seemed to tear itself to pieces in a startlingly violent fashion, as if some unseen giant had violently twisted it.

Nahum opened a channel to the Xern commanders, hoping to do what, she didn't know, not that it ended up mattering. She was too late.

Leva'el was the first to be hit. The singularity tore right through it's commander center, fiercely bleeding x-rays and wrenching the giant machine in a startlingly brutal fashion. One of the Xern's giant 'legs' crumpled upwards, smashing itself against the center disk which didn't fair much better, resembling a crushed metal can the Humans favored for their beverages more than it did a high-end lethal war machine.

With little fanfare the giant machine slowly fell to the ocean below, it's propulsion systems either unresponsive or destroyed.

The Satellis Drone hadn't even had a chance to activate it's shield.

The other two Xern's fared a little better, but not by much. Four massive streams of plasma burned through the rapidly dispersing cloud of chaff, two per Xern. Less accurately aimed than the micro-singularity had been, there were no direct hits.

But even a less than perfect hit from weapons of that output were damaging aplenty. One Xern had a leg burned off, and one of it's primary beam weapons was shattered, causing it to madly list back and forth, trying to right it's course. The other one was less lucky, the two streams not blowing off any of it's large appendages but burning through sensitive circuitry, as well as destroying it's primary float system. Unable to properly keep itself afloat, it belched fire and smoke before lazily crashing to the waves below.

Performing the Human equivalent of a grimace, Nahum checked her instruments and with no small amount of relief found no further spikes in energy. At least Luxaar's mobile fortress had survived.

* * *

A few hastily deployed surveillance drones that had been kept in reserve painted a very thrilling picture that made Linda and Cortez's 'deaths' seem worth it. Two Xerns were falling towards the ocean, clearly out of the fight. One was staggering back and forth, it's crew obviously trying to keep it under control. The largest machine that had belonged to Luxaar was still standing with no damage though.

Not for long though. One more second and the Zenith Cannon would be ready to fire. The Zenith Cannon is rather aptly named if you ask me. Basically just a railgun that took a witches brew of Erythropoietin, Ephedrine, Tamoxifen and Creatine. While the designers liked to boast that their new gun could fire a projectile at the speed of light, no one actually believed them. Aside from the impossibility of getting a physical object to actually reach the magic velocity _C,_ especially in an atmosphere, the designers _did_ create something that can launch a projectile at something like five percent of that speed.

Which is still freaking _insane_ when you stop to think about how fast that actually is. Fifteen thousand kilometers per _second_. If you blinked during the slow-motion replay you'd still miss it.

The projectile itself isn't anything fancy, just a really solid piece of metal that'll hopefully last for more than a split second before tearing itself to nothing due to the insane stress forces being put upon it.

Let's see how that monster Xern handles this.

* * *

Nahum had just been about to order her forces to regroup around her one remaining Xern before engaging the Humans when a nuclear detonation went off behind her.

Not literally of course, since her machine was only slightly knocked around instead of flash vaporized, and little hard radiation was released. But it was still enough to destroy to the four Quos that had been hovering near the Xerns, relying on the massive machines and Skell forces to protect them. Still in a mild state of incredulous disbelief she watched the ocean crash back in on itself, as the heat of the explosion had vaporized a significant chunk of the water below it.

Either something had gone horribly wrong with the machines reactor at an extremely inopportune time…or the Humans had yet another weapon of unbelievable power that hadn't shown up on her sensors.

Considering the way the other three Xerns had been dealt with, she had little doubt as to which of the two it was.

On that note, the one Orion Xern that was still airborne had apparently given up on doing so, instead deciding to gently settle on the ocean and try to keep as many of it's weapons clear for firing. The rest of her forces drifted uncertainly, stunned by the sudden and brutal turnabout the Humans had created.

She shook herself out of her stupor as the last vestiges of the Humans smokescreen dissipated and their nearly untouched Skell forces moved to engage. There was no polite or optimistic way to put this.

They had lost.

The Xerns had been an integral part of her overall strategy in the campaign against the Humans stronghold. Capable of acting both as mobile resupply/repair bases and long range artillery support, they would have allowed her forces to march directly to NLA with no need for rest.

Now the four great machines were either utterly destroyed or crippled, with her Skell armada isolated a long way from any Ganglion base.

Running wasn't an option. Her sensors showed that there were several of the Wrothian traitor's machines interspersed with the Humans, and there was no machine in her forces aside from Nardacyon that could outpace them. Not to discredit the Human mechs either, some of their less heavily armored frames were hideously swift as well, certainly capable of outpacing a Qmoeva. To run without fighting would sacrifice a large portion of her force to the tender mercies of the Wrothian Skells, while if she wished to delay the oncoming force, she would have to leave behind a sizable portion of her army in order to effectively distract a group of that size. Hardly a better option the her first.

Put simply, they couldn't win, and to not fight at all was to invite certain losses with nothing to show for it except lost morale and material.

…Nahum was actually relieved that there was no right answer to their predicament, no good way to remedy the situation. If there had been only a slim chance of victory, only one way to achieve a win…she would have felt pressured, like she _had_ to find that one way of securing victory.

When all roads equally lead to death, what's to dictate your choice except pure whim?

Excitement rising within her she opened a channel to all her forces.

"All squadrons, maintain formation and move to engage the vermin's machines. Show them that we aren't yet beaten!"

There was a roar of acknowledgments and she resisted the urge to gloat. A little motivation and now her soldiers would go to battle believing that if they fought their hardest, they would win. They had no need to know that none of them were leaving this battlefield alive.

She focused on the rapidly approaching Humans and hummed to herself contentedly.

Now was the time to instruct the Humans on what a pyrrhic victory really looked like.

* * *

It's an astounding day out quite honestly. Light blue skies, a few pure white clouds gently drifting, vast rolling hills of mid-morning fog just beginning to burn off…

The picturesque scene is somewhat ruined by the no holds-barred melee we're currently engaging the Ganglion in. Currently I'm waiting a few kilometers away from the battle with my squad, waiting until Nardacyon makes a move. As soon as it does my squad will run escort for me, keeping the small fry off my tail so that I can engage the Ganglion mech as fresh as possible.

A shitty side effect is that I know have front row seats to witness a lethal ballet written by John the Apostle, scored by Richard Wagner, and choreographed by Oya herself.

The two leading lines of machines had collided with a vengeance, neither side holding back on ammunition or power, attempting nothing more than trying to kill the other guy quicker than they could be killed in return.

It's a slaughter of both sides.

A Formula wielding a Katar in each hand quickly evades a Qmoevas desperate attempt to shoot it down before it quickly stabs into the pilots compartment, causing the machine to shut down moments before the same Formula is itself cut to shreds by a nearby Galdr, causing the Formula's squamates to descend on the larger machine with a vengeance.

An Inferno gets cornered by a descending Seidr, which grabs the machine and pulls it's arm back and extends a glowing blade, clearly preparing to run it through it's cockpit and end the fight. At the last second an Urban rushes in between the approaching blade and the trapped Skell, taking the hit for itself and going limp as the pilot is killed almost instantly. Throwing aside the broken machine the Seidr pulls it's arm back a second time…only to be blindsided by an approaching Verus that slams a G-Sword right onto it's head, crumpling the machines body like discarded tin foil. The machine lets go of the Inferno and falls limply to the water below, and the freed Inferno dashes towards the falling Urban, obviously trying to help it, only to be hit by a volley of missiles and be torn apart.

The Xern that had settled into the ocean begins to fire with wild abandon, trying it's best to cause as much damage as possible. Five Skells break free of the battle and streak towards the behemoth, dodging it's shots as best they can. Despite their best efforts, the sheer volume of fire is too much to handle, and three machines go down in flames. The remaining two make it into the Xern's blind spot and let loose with a Meteor cannon and F2-Rifle, causing a chain reaction of destruction to finally finish what we started.

Ten Ganglion machines manage to surround a smaller group of our Skells and start hammering away at them, overwhelming shields and blowing off limbs. An Amdusias that's part of the squad tries to charge forward and distract the Ganglion as best it can, but it's heavy plating can only take so much before it gets melted away by repeated plasma blasts. Preparing to shoot down the remaining four Skells the Ganglion are suddenly blindsided by a Wrothian team, losing four machines in the blink of an eye. Taking the opportunity for some payback the Human Skells join in the fight, and machines start to burn.

A heavily damaged Lailah is trying to keep an unresponsive Urban afloat when a Seidr suddenly appears behind them. Unwilling to drop it's partner the Lailah deploys a shield that the Seidr smashes aside and with a casual motion uses its concealed plasma blade to slice the two machines in half. Preparing to jet towards the next fight it's suddenly rammed into full force by the Vasara. Not wasting any movements Ga Jiarg quickly uses the Vasara's superior strength to physically rip the Seidr in two, letting the two halves fall in a display of raw force.

Utter madness.

The ocean is actually starting to _boil_ , great swathes of steam rising into the air from all the missed plasma and laser fire, as well as burning hulks impacting on it's surface. Mixing with the rolling cloud of noxious smoke from all the destroyed machinery, the disgusting mixture is slowly starting to blot out the sun, giving the entire area a washed out and hazy look. With the dueling Skells and light scatter from all the varied weaponry as well as the horrendous noise, it could be a perfect representation of some primitive religions idea of Hell.

I'm suddenly made aware that I have a splitting headache by a lance of pain through my skull and realize that I've been grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw the entire time I've been watching.

Watching.

I'm never going to get used to being on the sidelines. In every other battle I've been in I was either in the thick of it, or could at least be doing something productive. Having to just sit back and let others do the heavy lifting, all while slowly taking loss after loss, is sheer torture.

Goddammit, shouldn't Nahum have done _something_ by now?

As if in answer to my question a mirror bright lance of energy flies out and impales a Mastema, causing it to explode in a violent shower of shrapnel.

H.B.'s voice immediately comes over my comm with, "That's your cue Cross! Engage Nardacyon and destroy it! We'll cover you!"

"Roger that! Let's move guys!"

I hit the afterburners and rocket towards the battle, my teammates flanking me on either side.

No more waiting and no more useless stressing. Time to do what I do best.

Chaser squad quickly slides up alongside us and Wolf shouts, "Don't worry about us rookie! We'll keep those shitheads off of yah!"

"Counting on it!"

And then we're in the middle of the whole battle. My tac screen is going berserk as it tries to keep up with all the information being gathered by the sensors, but it's a lost cause. There's simply too much energy scatter, target seeking missiles and darting Skells to make sense of anything. I go to shout a warning when I see two Galdrs backed up by a Seidr suddenly take up firing positions on our group but my escort is already a step ahead of me.

Wolf and the rest of Chaser quickly scatter and move to engage the two Galdrs while my group tackles the Seidr. The two smaller mechs open fire with a barrage of missiles that are intercepted by Wolf, who uses a heathorn to melt the things before they manage to hit home. Finding their initial barrage quickly stymied they start to back off, but aren't quick enough. A Verus whips out a T-Claw and quickly jams it through the Galdr's midsection, tearing apart it's innards and crippling the machine. The other Galdr is slightly luckier, managing to catch one of the Urbans with a salvo from it's arm cannons and blow of an arm and an engine, putting it out of the fight. Wolf takes advantage of that though and quickly pulls out two beam sabers and proceeds to literally disarm the machine, followed up by a quick spinning slash that wrecks it's engines, causing it to spiral madly downward.

The Seidr my squad faces off against is one of the Grav Raptor series, it's two shoulder mounts quickly shifting to open fire as it keeps it's distance. My allies are too good for such a simple tactic. Mia and Julun quickly launches a barrage of M-missiles to keep it occupied as Celica and Vi close in. Having to redirect it's fire to keep the missiles from destroying it the Seidr is left completely unprepared for just how fast Vi and Celica are. No sooner does it shoot down the last warhead with it's Night-Cage self-defense system than the two of them are right in it's face. Dodging a reactive swing of the machines arm blade Celica flips behind it and fires a volley of gatling fire into it's back, destroying it's engine. Vi then takes advantage of it's brief loss of control to ram his spear through the pilot's compartment, putting an end to the brief skirmish.

At this point I've pulled even with my escorts as they swing around to my flanks.

"Ok rook, looks like you're in the clear, show that upstart who's-"

Wolf never manages to finish as that same mirror bright beam punches right through his Skell and leaves only rapidly disintegrating metal in it's wake.

There's a moment of stunned silence before I feel a surge of anger crawl up my spine and peel my lips back from my teeth in a snarl.

"All units disengage! That Bitch is _mine_. Keep the rest of the grunts away!"

Several voices containing differing amounts of rage tersely answer, "Yes sir!" and then seven Skells peel off to engage other approaching Ganglion.

Narrowing my eyes at Nardacyon, still hovering about three kilometers away, I make a slight detour to where a Qmoeva is busily firing away at my squad. Disengaging my blaster I make two precise shots that disintegrate it's arms and leave it mostly defenseless. I slam the Ares' shoulder into it's midsection and hit my thrusters, using the mech as an improvised shield.

There's a lot of ground to cover between me and Nardacyon, having a meat shield will be extra handy, plus Nahum might not be so thrilled at killing her own-

My thoughts are interrupted as a salvo of laser fire connects with the Qmoeva and practically melts the whole machine in one go. I resist the temptation to roll my eyes at myself as I push loose the molten mess.

As if a Milsaadi would care about friendly fire as long as it gets the mission accomplished. I dunno what the Hell I was thinking.

My shield destroyed I fly through a storm of magnetically guided plasma beams, relying on desperate evasive maneuvers to eat up the distance between us. Christ that thing is _accurate_. I'm pulling every move I can think of, as well as a few I just thought up, and I'm barely avoiding the shots by scant centimeters.

All of a sudden the barrage lets up and I see Nardacyon turn tail and fly away, thrusters flaring in my face.

What the Hell?

Recovering from my surprise at the sudden departure, I hit the afterburners and start to close in on the machine. Wary of any traps my sensors suddenly figure out where the Skell is headed. There's a small island up ahead, maybe four kilometers square, that Nardacyon seems to be headed to. Suddenly killing it's thrust the Ganglion Skell gently lands on a small rise in the middle of the place and simply stares at me as I approach.

Pulling up well short of the island I narrow my eyes in suspicion. Engaging every sensor I have I do a thorough scan of the place and don't find any hidden weapons or anything else like that at all. All the while Nardacyon just continues to stare at me. I idly consider just opening fire…and discard that idea. I'm already being watched like a hawk, and any move I make will be instantly spotted. A 'surprise' attack would be pointless. Instead I match Nardacyon's position and land about a hundred meters away.

The Ares suddenly chimes at me, signaling I have an incoming message from the opposing mech. Scowling I make sure every electronic counter-intrusion package I have is running at peak efficiency then open the channel.

"I'll admit that I'm surprised you kept your aggressive impulses in check and bothered to talk to me. You vermin tend to be very emotional in your responses."

I scowl as I actually hear Nahum's voice for the first time. Despite the mechanical warble it manages to be both authoritative and condescending.

"So did you open this channel just to shit-talk? If so I'm just gonna go with my 'aggressive impulses' and start the killing."

Instead of responding she's quiet for a moment before slowly saying, "That voice…you're the one from Oblivia. The one who killed several of my subordinates during the Caravan operation…"

I frown in confusion before it clicks.

"You're the Milsaadi from the canyon…well color me surprised."

She actually _laughs_.

"I think your phrase is, 'small world' yes? If I was anything other than pragmatic I would say there is almost a connection, a relationship between us."

"A connection?" I snort as a memory of Milly laying dead on the ground flashes through my mind.

"The only, 'relationship' we have is that killing you is now one of those happy little moments where I get to mix business _and_ pleasure."

There's a snarl of black electricity that crawls up my spine and a predatory grin a Grex would recognize appears on my face.

" _We're done talking."_

I snap the Agni Gatlings to their ready position with a clang and activate the Overdrive, and with a deafening howl the Skell starts to actually _glow_ as a storm of escaping energy lights up the landscape around me as a massive energy halo appears behind me, the frame unable to contain all of the excess power being generated.

I'm going to really, really, _really_ enjoy tearing this motherfucker apart.

* * *

Back at Alpha Base's main C&C room Nagi and a small group of support staff intensively watched a single holographic display showing several images caught by dozens of independent satellites that were high enough in Mira's atmosphere that the Ganglion hadn't detected them. Right now every eye was trained on a single screen that showed two Skells facing off, one glowing with a halo of released energy, while the other suddenly was engulfed in a current of electricity that snapped and snarled, setting fire to patches of grass around the machine.

" _We're counting on you Cross. Godspeed."_ thought Nagi.

* * *

Overdrives are kind of touchy, even on Skells we Humans have been working on for decades. On something so advanced and experimental like the Ares, there was some debate as to whether putting in an overdrive system was a good idea. I won out in the end though, saying the it was better to be safe than it was to be dead.

That said, the Overdrive for the Ares will only last twenty-eight seconds before the entire Skell shuts down due to reactor degradation. Twenty-eight seconds to end this fight. And apparently Nardacyon has it's own version of an Overdrive, if the elevated power readings are to be believed, as well as the lightning dancing around it's frame in ragged arcs.

I _so_ don't care. Let's fight.

Sending the Ares forward in a burst of speed that nearly causes me to black out, I ready my first plan of action. In the split second that it takes me to reach Nardacyon I deploy the Avataras on my back…but don't release them. Gently using the gravity repellers I slew around Nardacyon as it tries to adjust to my speed and slice directly through the tail cannon with the Avataras, depriving it of that damn beam weapon that took out Wolf. Not content with just that I flip the Ares around and make the engines put out as much thrust as they possibly can. The violent shift in direction causes something in my chest to crack and a lance of pain flares through my upper body, but I barely even notice.

My sudden momentum change catches Nardacyon off guard and I slam into the larger machine, driving it to the ground with a spray of displaced topsoil. Moving quickly before the Skell can recover I grab it's head and proceed to use the Ares' deceptively strong limb strength to just rip the damn thing off in a cascade of sparks and twisting fiber optics. Tossing it aside I jump into a thruster assisted backflip…not quite dodging Nahum's retaliatory strike.

One of the weapons pods on it's flanks managed to fire a beam that, despite the Ares heat resistant heavy armor, manages to burn off a leg and the M-Blaster that was attached to it.

Twenty-four seconds left.

Not even bothering to land with only one leg I snap the Agnis up and open fire on the Ganglion mech. Nardacyon's Ether coating flares sun-bright as the two opposing Ether energies meet in a mad covalent light show. Scowling I disengage the Avataras and launch them at the machine, planning to overwhelm it with simultaneous attacks.

Instead of losing her head, Nahum calmly ignores the Agnis, which don't seem to be accomplishing jack-shit aside from creating a spectacular kaleidoscope of colors, and focuses on deflecting the Avataras. As the four drones close in both of it's arms sprout plasma blades and start windmilling around it's body at incredible velocities. While the Avataras burn insanely hot, the opposing blades produce just enough heat that they aren't overwhelmed, and the conflicting magnetic fields force the drones away from more vulnerable parts of the body.

I take the distraction this provides to prepare the Aghasura Cannons to fire…and have to suddenly dodge as Nardacyon fires a barrage of guided plasma fire in my direction. How the hell is Nahum managing to do three things at once in this short a time-frame? Regardless I slip by the shots…only to find that they weren't targeting the frame, but the receivers for the Avataras. All four take direct hits and three of the four drones suddenly engage their safeties and fall harmlessly to the ground.

The fourth doesn't manage that as perfectly. For something like a hundredth of a second the magnetic field shuts off, but the heat generator doesn't. In that hundredth of a second, a miniature sun burns on the surface of Mira, and the atmosphere for more than two kilometers around catches on fire, engulfing us in a sea of flame and blinding our sensors.

Nineteen seconds left.

Taking advantage of the wave of flames to sneak around the side of Nardacyon I finish preparing the Aghasuras, emerging from the dying flames with them prepared to fire. The sudden conflagration must have surprised Nahum, because her Skell is still in the same spot, staring at where I was a second ago.

Smirking I line up the reticle and pull the trigger, unleashing an Overdrive enhanced blast. Whereas the original beam was an unwavering laser straight line of energy, this is one is downright chaotic. A purple-white oscillating stream of Ether bursts out of the cannons and streaks towards Nardacyon, and I assume that this battle is over.

Me and my big mouth.

Somehow Nahum twists her machine into a near impossible maneuver that slips her machine largely out of the way, sacrificing her left arm and weapons pod to the ravening energy. No amount of Ether coating could protect against that blast.

I grimace in frustration and move to pan the cannons over, only to watch the three devices overload and disintegrate into nothingness.

Reason number two strikes again. Well I guess thats what I deserve for forcing the things way beyond their operational limits.

Fifteen seconds to go.

Nardacyon manages to right itself and I decide to take advantage of it's missing limb. Charging right into melee range I draw the Vajra flail and settle into an _Arnis_ stance, before moving to strike at Nardacyon. Whatever weapon Nahum was expecting me to deploy it clearly wasn't a hyper-advanced nunchaku, if the haphazard and messy reaction is any indicator. Every three-fourths of a second I land a strike, and each strike shatters the hull of Nardacyon, sending pieces flying and causing massive dents if not outright chasms to appear on the machine.

Seeming to finally get her act together, Nahum makes a quick slash at the _Kusari,_ obviously hoping to cut the weapon at the weak connecting link, but I merely shift the _Kontoh_ into the blades path, blowing both weapons away due to the conflicting force. Spinning around with my newfound momentum I strike at Nardacyon's knee, shattering the appendage and briefly unbalancing the Skell. Grinning I move to strike the main body and finish this fight, only to find the flail and my right arm blown to pieces by the one remaining weapon pod.

Goddammit again. When I hit it's knee Nardacyon stumbled forward, clearing the pod to fire at my machine and saving Nahum from a killing blow.

Eight seconds to go.

Taking advantage of the exposed pod and the brief lull in the fight I engage my one remaining Agni and fire at the exposed appendage. With the Ether coating long since expended, the rounds chew through the metal and wreck the innards, rendering it dead weight.

Obviously not one to let an opportunity pass her by Nahum quickly jets Nardacyon forward and swipes her blade in a horizontal arc, burning through the Agni's barrels before I can retract the weapon. Quickly grabbing the M-Blade and catching Nardacyon's approaching swing we lock swords that send a shower of sparks flying in crazed arcs as we both try to shove the others blade against them, all finesse forgotten and relying on brute force.

In the midst of the contest I suddenly cough and blue fluid splashes on the inside of my helmet, and the sharp pain in my chest and other limbs no longer becomes ignorable. Too many violent maneuvers in such a short time are catching up with me, artificial body or not. At which point a rather salient fact keeps pounding in my head.

I just. Don't. _Have it._ I'm not going to win.

I can make excuses of course. I can argue that only if my Overdrive had lasted longer, or perhaps if I'd had more time to train with the Ares, I could have pulled off a win. Put bluntly, that's bullshit. The plain and simple fact is that Nahum is better than me.

Admitting that hurts worse than any other wound I've taken, probably worse than any I'll ever take. It hurts because I'd always been confident that, if things ever came down to an even, one-on-one fight, I could beat _anyone_. Sure, there are people I greatly respect, and consider far more knowledgable about certain fighting styles, but all modesty aside I'd never really believed that I could be beaten.

How could I? I was quite literally handcrafted to be the baddest, toughest and meanest soldier Humanity had at it's disposal. Whatever my other failings, no matter how little I could contribute to the people I love off of a battlefield, I always had that.

And now that one certainty is shattered.

A sudden push from Nardacyon separates us and we both stagger for a moment trying to regain our balance with the crippled machines.

Two seconds left.

I guess this could be considered my defining moment. Battered and bruised, my body slowly shutting down and coughing up fluids that really shouldn't be coughed up, each breathe feeling like someone shoved broken glass into my ribs.

My confidence and self-identity shattered, maybe so thoroughly that I'll never be able to fully piece them back together.

My Skell heavily damaged and missing half it's limbs and almost all of it's weapons, only seconds away from shutting down.

My opponent, taking the worst I can throw at her and responding in kind, with no signs of going down before I do.

But I don't give up. I can't, because there's people out there that I love who can one day make something of their lives, and right now I'm in a position to give them that opportunity.

At the end, all I can say about myself is this.

Willing to die.

Not willing to quit.

I make one last beeline for Nardacyon and let my sword hang loosely by my side. I have one shot at this, one chance to make the most of my all too likely death. That might seem overly dramatic, since I'll just be pulled out of the Lifehold when all is said and done…or at least I'd like to think so.

It never escaped my attention that there is apparently _no record_ of me ever existing on the White Whale, nothing at all. While that may just imply that it's my records that don't exist…I'm of the opinion that my genetic code wasn't included in the final roster for the Whale. Why would a weapon need a normal flesh and blood body?

I can't help but feel that this death might be for a very long time, if not permanent. I'm going through with it anyway.

Ten meters from Nardacyon I use the maneuvering jets on one side of the Ares to send it into a spin that adds extra momentum to the sword, aimed right at Nardacyon's cockpit. I see an answering Plasma blade heading right towards my seat, and I have one last thought.

 _I'm sorry Celica. And thank you._

* * *

Nahum had to still her shaking before making any further moves. The fast and brutal battle, the Human's last charge in particular, had left her with an adrenaline high that was simply unbelievable. That had easily been the most close run battle of her life. Her only regret, and a trifling one at that, was that they had not been able to conclude their duel from Oblivia face-to-face.

A _very_ trifling regret compared to their bout just now. She spared a glance at the fallen Skell that had housed her rival, and took stock of it's condition. Missing an arm and leg, with several neatly severed weapons housings and one large gash in it's side where it had taken Nahum's blade during it's final attack.

Looking at it now you would never think it such a fearsome weapon.

Turning her attention away she opened a damage report on Nardacyon…and immediately gave it up as a bad job. It would be far easier to list all the systems that _weren't_ damaged, if not outright destroyed. All she had left was the one arm with it's integrated weaponry, and the plasma projectors on Nardacyon's back.

The major handicap was the reactor damage though. The Human's last move had missed her person, but the sword had instead cut some of the reactors coolant lines. She could draw only eleven percent power before the reactor would begin to overheat, hardly ideal for combat, even _if_ Nardacyon hadn't been so thoroughly damaged.

She gave a small hum of amusement at that thought. As if she planned to survive this.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her proximity sensors chimed a warning. Quickly turning around she saw four machines quickly heading her way. It was quite the mix. A repurposed Galdr that was missing one of it's arms, a Wrothian Calador that had one of it's legs blown off, and two Human Skells to round off the group. Backup for the machine she had been facing off against?

Whatever their reason Nahum quickly fired off a round of plasma that streaked towards the quartet of mechs. The Calador and lightly armored Skell dodged, while the two larger machines took hits that threw them off course, likely putting them out of the fight for a few seconds. The Calador charged with it's spear aimed to skewer her, necessitating a burst of her jets to push her out of the way.

However mid-jump Nardacyon suddenly shuddered as the two engines failed, leaving her not quite out of range of the oncoming Skell. Instead snapping out her arm blade she made a swift slash that removed the tip of the Calador's spear, reducing the threat somewhat.

Not quite enough though. Quickly spinning and using the blunt end of the pole to precisely cripple her remaining leg joint the Calador then jumped back out of range of the lethal blade, leaving the Human Skell to continue charging in. With Nardacyon crippled and unable to dodge, Nahum did the only thing she could, and make a blindingly fast, yet painfully telegraphed swing at he machine. For a split second it seemed as if the blow would connect…before the Human's mech snapped up it's arm and ignited a shield that stopped the blade cold.

The other arm came up holding a knife, poised to cut through one of the many gaps in Nardacyon's armor. Unable to dodge or defend, Nahum simply relaxed inside of her ensconced pilot's compartment and took a moment to simply appreciate how thrilling of a campaign this one had ended up being.

Dying in a pitched battle, surrounded on all sides by enemies? There are worse ways to go. A lot of them.

Then the knife struck home and Nahum died with the Milsaadi equivalent of a smile.

* * *

I don't spare the slowly toppling Nardacyon a second glance and bound towards the Ares.

"Cross! Respond, CROSS!"

Jetting towards the fallen machine my breath catches in my throat at the damage seemingly done. My mind was already trying to come to terms with the idea that Cross actually might have lost against someone, and now this?

Mia's voice comes over the radio sounding composed, but I can hear the slight tremor to it.

"We have the area on lockdown Celica, go and…go and make sure Cross is still there."

It's a worrying sign of how frightened Mia is that she didn't refer to him as 'Chief'.

Not even waiting for my Skell to kneel I open the cockpit and jump to the ground, rolling to absorb some of the impact. I'm immediately assaulted with an almost physical blast of heat, and in no time at all I feel myself startwing to sweat and gasp for breath. Ignoring my own discomfort I bound up the side of the Ares and bite back a curse I learned from Yelv upon seeing the pilot's compartment. It's half melted and distended, with some of the extremities still smoking with leftover heat.

Ignoring the sharp edges I frantically search for Cross among the wreckage, and immediately stiffen as I find him. Half crushed by the collapsed plating and not moving I immediately sprint to his side and try to pull him loose, not getting far as he's still being pinned by the collapsed metal. I snarl and move to peel back the plates.

I grunt and slowly start to bend the metal away from my boyfriend's body, surprising even myself with my desperate strength. With a slight slump he breaks free from the pressure and I pull him onto a more level part of the machine. Hooking up my comm device to a data port on his flight suit in order to get a medical reading I then take a closer look at his body and feel my face pale.

His right arm and leg are crushed beyond the elbow and knee, likely where the cockpit collapsed, and his left side has a ragged hole in it that's charred around the edges, as if some massive plasma sword just barely missed a direct hit. Which is almost certainly what happened if I think about it.

Quickly removing his helmet I clench my jaw as I see the inside of the helm caked with the blue-white fluid their artificial bodies use as blood, and his mouth is spattered with the stuff as well. Fearing the worst I put my ear to his mouth…and hear very faint breathing, although it sounds erratic and wet.

Opening a channel to the rest of the team I shout, "He's still alive, call for an extraction!"

"We already did, they're fifteen minutes out!"

Unable to do anything more on that front I take a look at the med data being displayed and feel my stomach sink. Massive contusions all over his body, likely caused by extremely harsh maneuvers, and most worryingly there's an actual _crack_ on the chest portion of his body, which is where the fluid is leaking in through. The diagnosis is estimating that he has twelve minutes before he stops being able to breathe properly. Dammit…

Unable to do much except tilt his head back and wait for the medical corps to arrive I simply sit beside him and keep watch.

…I finally find someone I love aside from Rock and now it looks like he's on death's door, while I can only watch like some helpless 'damsel in distress' Lin references to sometimes.

"You'd better pull through this, I don't like the idea of waiting for them to pull you out of your damn Lifehold." I quietly whisper to myself.

Sighing I gently hold his hand and take a look around at the newly created wasteland. It looks like the Ganglion were either routed or finally retreated, the sounds of battle are all but gone by now.

As if on cue H.B.'s voice rings out over the public channel, although it's almost entirely devoid of his usual haughty confidence. Instead he sounds almost…tired.

"The Ganglion are falling back. Squads Howlrunner, Outback and Estoc you are to pursue and harry their forces. All other squads focus on rescue and retrieval. Victory belongs to us today."

Instead of a cheer of victory, there's only a few exhausted, 'Yes Sir's that sounds more like a defeated army than a victorious one. Not that I blame them. Of the One hundred forty two Skells that were part of the assault, only seventy are still airborne, and of those almost twenty are heavily damaged, more concerned with keeping themselves afloat than they are with looking for survivors.

The scenery doesn't help much either. The ocean is still churning at some spots, throwing up huge clouds of steam that mix with the noxious smoke from destroyed reactors and melted hull composites. In fact there's so much smog in the air that the sun is completely blocked out, giving everything a sickly brown and fuzzy look.

Fighting back the tears that suddenly want to escape from my eyes I can't help but feel a wave of bitterness as I look at the plumes of smoke that might be acquaintances or friends that didn't make it, or stare at the man who's always fought for all our sakes and never his own slowly choke to death.

Bitterness, because you can't call this tragedy a 'Victory'.

* * *

 **Another chapter down...and only one more to go! Next chapter will be the final one of this story, and due to the size of it I'm pushing it's release schedule a little further down the road. I'm honestly not sure when exactly it'll be ready, but I guarantee it won't take any longer than one month exactly.**

 **Looking back at this chapter I think half the fun of writing this particular chapter was imagining how things like the Superweapons actually work (A consequence of me just beginning to get into physics), as well as how a large scale battle between Skells would actually appear.**

 **So that about wraps things up for now, next chapter is the finale!**

 **(Random comments about giving reviews and whatnot)**


	10. Chapter 10: Day by Day, Step by Step

Chapter 10: Day by Day, Step by Step

"Dissociation is the common response of children to repetitive, overwhelming trauma and holds the untenable knowledge out of awareness. The losses and the emotions engendered by the assaults on soul and body cannot, however, be held indefinitely. In the absence of effective restorative experiences, the reactions to trauma will find expression. As the child gets older, he will turn the rage in upon himself or act it out on others, else it all will turn into madness."

― **Judith Spencer** , **Satans High Priest**

It's with a groan that I slowly open my eyes and idly wonder where I am. If this is supposed to be the afterlife I want to have a discussion with the interior designer, because he, she or it quite frankly sucks at their job. I mean come on.

Grey metal walls, blue tinged light, weird windows all over the place? Jeez it's just like being back at the NLA MIM Maintenance Center.

…Oh.

I glance over at where the serial number would be if this was a pod and…yup. Pod seven-A.

Either limbo has a funky sense of humor, or I'm not dead like I thought I was. Settling back into the tank's embrace I try to think back on what exactly happened before I woke up here. We had the fight against the Ganglion, then I went after Nardacyon, after that…

My eyes widen as it all comes rushing back in a blur, what the Hell happened afterwards-no strike that, who's still alive? I remember Wolf being hit, did anyone else…

"Relax, things are under control now."

My eyes snap to a white clad figure who just walked in front of my pod, and with a start I realize it's Eleanora.

"Ok not to sound overly rude here, but wouldn't one of NLA's most crucial administrators have something better to do than wait around for me to wake up?"

"Things are calm for the moment, so I have the time for this visit. Now I imagine you have quite a few questions, so things will be a bit easier if I just give you a quick rundown of events since you went under. Agreed?"

"I'm good with that."

She takes a deep breath then starts speaking in a monotone.

"Wolf and Walter didn't make it. Your team and other acquaintances are all alive and well. The battle ended in our favor, with over ninety percent of the Ganglion destroyed, and the rest were heavily damaged. That said, out of the one hundred forty two Skells and pilots we fielded, sixty-six BLADEs are dead, with seventy-three machines destroyed and twenty-four heavily damaged, requiring weeks if not months of repair."

I feel her words like hammer blows as the enormity of the losses we took actually hits home. Wolf, NLA's best instructor, as well as Walter, the old rock that kept a lot of the Younger BLADEs focused and looked after, are now gone for the foreseeable future. And the losses…

To decimate a force is to kill one out of ten soldiers…we were decimated five times over. Sure, the Ganglion were practically wiped out to the last man, but these kinds of losses are practically crippling.

I give a slow shake of my head and respond, "I'm almost sorry I asked. What's our current game plan?"

She's quiet for a moment before replying, "As of now there really isn't one. You've only been out for a day and three hours. Nagi, Vandham and Chausson are still working on some kind of overall plan we can follow…but as you can imagine this is a rather difficult situation, all things considered."

"That seems to be understating the magnitude of this situation, but I'll agree on that…so _why_ exactly are you here though? As much as I enjoy company I'm not buying that bit about you not having anything better to do. Checking up on the unstable Super Soldier you wanted to keep in the dark?"

I see her suddenly stiffen and feel a brief pang of regret at my less than diplomatic words. I guess I'm still bitter about how they kept my past a secret for so long, no matter how over it I like to pretend I am. And my mood certainly isn't helped much by my recently shattered confidence in my supposed role as the cities unbeatable go to kill-bot.

I'm essentially just throwing a temper tantrum at this point.

"There was a reason I did so."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"Not particularly."

I'm about to snap back at her when I get ahold of myself and just give a defeated sigh instead.

"I guess we're back to my original question then. What's the point of you being here, when there's almost certainly a billion other more important things you could be doing?"

"Because I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Err…come again?"

"I owe you an apology Cross."

"Whoah, back up here. You owe _me_ an apology? What for?"

She arches an eyebrow and doesn't quite manage to keep the amusement out of her voice.

"Just a second ago you were accusing me of keeping important secrets from you, and now you ask what I have to apologize for?"

"Ok fair point, but it's just like I told the other three. I get it. You made the best decisions you could to keep this city alive, and so far it's worked. Besides, at the end of the day you guys did decide to come clean with me, so no hard feelings."

"And that's why I'm here to apologize. I _didn't_ want to tell you, I was overruled by the other three. To my surprise however, you adapted very well and didn't seem to exhibit any of the instability or anger I was worried would manifest. And that's why I I'm here. To tell you I'm sorry for not believing in you."

"Huh…well, apology accepted I guess? That was kind of a heavy conversation there."

She sighs and says, "It could get worse. I want you to make a choice Cross. While what you know is absolutely true, that's not the whole story regarding your past. I'm privy to a few details that even the other three don't know. I can tell you them…but it might change how you feel about the whole story. Or it might not bother you at all. I thought I knew how you'd react before, and was proven completely wrong."

I glare back at her and archly reply, "So let me get this straight, you tell me that there's some special twist to my background that may or may not flip my whole world upside down, and then give me a choice to either hear it or just go on my merry way and forget I ever heard such a thing? What the Hell kind of choice is _that_ supposed to be?"

She shrugs and neutrally replies, "It's still a choice. You have the option to forget about what I just said, and don't try to tell me that not knowing would always haunt you. With the benefit of hindsight, if we had never told you about your past, would that have changed your goals, given you a change of heart? Made you not want to continue keeping NLA safe?"

I stop to think about that.

Now that she mentions it, one of the first things I had realized after hearing about my past was just how little my actions and personality were altered. In fact, I seem to recall thinking that practically nothing had changed at all. So yah, Eleanora has a point when she's saying that if I decide to walk away from this it might be for the better.

Except learning about my previous history was what convinced me that actually starting a relationship with Celica was a good thing, and that there was no reason for me to keep being so indecisive. It was a totally unexpected side effect, but without having to worry about any amnesia attacks, I could go about my life without having that particular illness to worry about.

So no way in Hell am I walking away from this.

"I appreciate your warning Eleanora, but hit me with it anyway."

"Very well. I guess it'd be easiest to start off by asking this: Do you really, in complete honesty, think you are a prime example of what a perfect soldier is?"

Her words sound harsh and confrontational, but the tone in her voice is merely inquisitive.

Frowning I reply, "Mostly, but there's a few things I find strange about my skill set quite honestly. Like why am I mediocre at long range shooting? Not to mention that some weapons I just seem to be more comfortable with. You'd think I feel right at home with just about anything."

"Indeed. There's no real way to break this to you nicely, so I'll just say it to you straight. You're not one of the prime soldiers that was the overall goal of the project. You're one of the washouts, never originally meant to board the Ark ships."

…Oh. Well, okay then. Huh.

"Um…If you don't mind me asking, how do you know that?"

"Because I was the one that recommended you be placed onboard the _White Whale_ regardless of your presumed readiness. Each ark ship was to be given a small number of these soldiers, no more than five at most, but I insisted that the _Whale_ take on any presumed, 'undesirables', as the distributors put it. Any help was better than no help in my eyes."

'Hold up, so then where are the other five if I was just extra baggage?"

"I don't know. None of your information or the other five's was entered into the _Whale's_ database, so all we have to go on is speculation. Either they never made it onboard the _Whale_ , or they did make it on but were killed in the crash, or perhaps they're still somewhere on Mira in life pods waiting to be found. Who can say?"

I wish my arms were working so that I could rub my eyes. Instead I have to settle for blinking really hard.

"…I'm really a reject then?"

"Yes. In addition to the lack of skill in some aspects of combat, did you never find it puzzling why you're memory, something that should be crucial to a soldier, was gone?"

I shake my head.

"It never affected my performance, so I never really gave it a second thought."

"Not your fighting skills, no. But your ability to communicate with others, your _personality_ was in shambles. Why would the projects creators construct a weapon that was so obviously different from other Humans?"

That makes way too much sense. Again, when I stop to think about it, it was rather laughable that I ever considered myself a 'perfect' soldier. An amnesiac with barely an original thought in his head, not even aware that he was in an artificial body, marooned on a planet he didn't even remember traveling to…

Shit. What a joke.

Seeming to sense my mood Eleanora gently adds, "For what it's worth Cross, just because you weren't considered to be the ideal warrior doesn't make you any less of one. I can honestly say that you've done just as much for this city as any of these hypothetical super-soldiers could have done. You can take pride in that."

I give a noncommittal grunt. I don't really feel like continuing that topic of conversation anymore. A few more awkward moments of silence pass before a thought pops into my head and I chuckle a bit, happy for the distraction.

"Is something amusing Cross?"

"Sorta. It just occurred to me, since you went out of your way to make sure I made it off Earth and then spent quite a bit of time personally looking after me when I joined BLADE, wouldn't that make you seem like my Guardian? Maybe I should start calling you Mom."

I'm treated to the almost unseen sight of Eleanora with an incredulous look on her face.

"No Cross, you _won't_ start calling me that. I am nowhere near that old and I have a professional image to keep."

"You sure? I mean, I'm only a year old, and you're practically mother to most of BLADE, so-"

"Cross, _drop it._ "

I take her advice and stop laughing, as well as adopt a slightly more relaxed attitude.

"Jokes aside, thanks Eleanora. For giving me a chance, as well as all the help you offered over the past year and change."

Heaving a sigh and shaking her head she bemusedly replies, "It never ceases to amaze me just how selfless you act towards me, Chausson, Nagi and Vandham. You have every right to be furious and suspicious of us, yet instead you go ahead and thank us instead."

I give a slightly embarrassed shrug.

"I guess it's not my style to hold a grudge? And I'll say it again, you four have the shittiest job imaginable yet you go at it with everything you've got, and all of NLA is still alive and kicking thanks to you. Seriously Eleanora, you've got nothing to apologize for. Except for that one time you gave Sharon the reward before we were all there to split it up. That was a net loss for the rest of us."

She shakes her head, smiling all the while before saying, "Well I've done what I came here for. Time to get back to work. You're excused from all BLADE work for the next three days Cross. Orders from above, get some rest."

"Is that really ok? I mean we took a real beating out there, shouldn't we be shorthanded?"

"Things are under control for now. Orders are orders Cross, relax."

I sigh and lean back in the tank.

"…So what's Yelv's story? He has memory issues just like me, another washout?"

I can hear the amusement in her voice as she replies, "Does Mr. Yelv really seem like the perfect warrior to you?"

"Well when you put it like that, no not really."

"Exactly."

Her voice loses some of it's levity and becomes flat and final.

"He isn't like you Cross, and that's all I'm willing and able to say about the matter. End of story."

Which honestly leaves me more curious than before, but I have enough on my mind as it is already.

"Understood, see you later Eleanora."

"Until later Cross."

Then she's gone, heels clicking across the floor and echoing throughout the building, which leaves me alone with my rapidly darkening thoughts.

* * *

I walk out of the MIM Repair Center and don't even bother trying to crack a joke at the technicians, my mind is focused on something else.

It's actually kind of funny that Eleanora said that I might not end up being all that shocked after learning about the real truth of my past, since I had handled the previous revelation just fine. One day ago I wouldn't have blinked after hearing that particular bit of info, and probably moved on in about five minutes.

Now though? After having my self-confidence merrily stomped into the ground and then scattered to the four winds?

It hurts, and I can't help but feel directionless, without a purpose or meaningful goal to tackle. The atmosphere around the city certainly isn't helping matters.

News of the battle's outcome must have already circulated, because the tense and hectic energy that had permeated the Districts is gone now…only to be replaced by a sort of melancholy efficiency as people go around doing their jobs.

Which makes way too much sense really. Considering how many BLADEs we lost in what people are already calling, 'The Battle of Alpha', almost everyone in the city lost a friend, or at the least an acquaintance of some sort due to the massive casualties.

Unable to distract myself by watching the city, I decide to finally get ahold of Celica and the others to let them know I'm alright. Placing a call on my comm I wait for almost a minute before sighing in defeat as no one picks up. They must still be on a mission then.

…Well there goes that plan. Who knew running away from your problems would be so damn hard?

I decide to just go ahead and leave a message, maybe they'll call me back later.

"Hey guys, I rise yet again! Ok bad joke, in fact Celica is probably grinding her teeth as of this very moment, preparing to kick my face in. Jokes in poor taste aside, how are you guys holding up? I haven't heard much yet aside from general information about the battle, don't keep me on the edge of my seat here…I'm glad you four made it out of there in one piece, give me a call as soon as you can. Catch you later."

I end the call and scowl at my reflection in the reflective metal of the thing. Well now what? Looking to further sidetrack myself I start putting out calls to Elma, Frye, Doug, Bozé, even Yelv. Same story each time, just an unanswered call and a me leaving a message. Christ, am I the only one in NLA right now? What fucking gives? Am I supposed to be dead weight right now or something?

I stiffen as I realize just where exactly that little outburst originated from. Releasing a shaky sign and running my hand through my hair I force myself to relax. I'm _not_ useless. It's only because of my recent loss to Nahum and Eleanora's little tidbit of information that I'm panicking, those feelings will go away in time. Nothing to worry about.

* * *

"…This is the sixth mission in a row that's gone wrong kid. What the Hells gotten into you lately? Taking on an Ictus by _yourself_? With no Skell? I don't know if you think you've got something to prove, but leaving the rest of your team high and dry? That's not like you Cross."

I glare back at Vandham and tersely reply, "I had the damn thing beaten and would have been back at my team's side in less than a minute. It was random chance that another one of those things was snooping around in another Ictus's territory, you know they don't play nice with each other."

"And _you_ know that if one of their rivals looks weak, they'll move in for the kill. Not to mention the racket you were making would have drawn all sorts of attention for kilometers around. Forget that little detail?"

I scowl and stubbornly insist, "Everyone made it back alive, there's two less Ictus prowling around NLA and we got the _White Whale_ wreckage we were after. What's with this interrogation?"

"First of all everyone made it back alive, sure. You neglected to mention that not everyone was in one piece. Half the squad had to spend time at the MIM repair center for crying out loud. And secondly, this isn't the first time we've had this conversation."

Sighing in resignation Vandham stoically says, "Look kid, take a week off from the combat related BLADE missions and try to get your head on straight. You're no good to anyone the way you're acting now."

I stare unwaveringly at the wall over his head and stonily reply, "Is that an order Commander?"

"It is. Dismissed."

I nod and push my chair back from the table with far more force than necessary and stalk away from the debriefing room, drawing a few nervous gazes from the various desk workers nearby.

Put me, NLA's best, out to pasture just because of some stupid roll of the dice? What bullshit is that?! If it wasn't for me this city would have been a hole in the ground years ago!

In a foul mood I head to the firing range and key up the hardest scenario the BLADE computers have in their stores, involving speed shooting, randomly appearing hostages and dynamic enemy entry. I'm one of the few people that can actually clear the simulation, and the only one to have done so with a score of eighty percent or higher.

I don't even end up completing it. A red enemy marker suddenly appears with a blue one covering the majority of it's hitbox, quickly advancing on where I've taken up position. Still focused on my previous target that was ducking in and out of cover I raise my left hand and fire at the newly appeared target, which disappears…after my shot went through the blue marker, marking the 'hostage' as dead.

The simulation shuts down and I'm left standing there with my weapons still raised, shocked at how badly I just did. A few other BLADEs around the range give me questioning looks, they've never seen me actually fail this test in such a manner.

Suddenly angry at myself and everyone I slam the guns down on the desk and stalk away without another word, everyone's eyes following me warily.

Walking through the city with no real destination in mind I end up near the newly constructed memorial wall, where a list of all the people that have been 'permanently' killed in defense of NLA have their names listed.

Fighting down the wave of sadness and bitterness that threatens to overwhelm me I stare at the list of three names that were added not too long ago.

Vi Leand, Julun Boravo, Celica-

* * *

-I wake up with a jerk, my eyes twitching and my breath going fast and short. Was that some sort of lucid dream or something? It felt so _real_.

Desperately trying to get my heart's beating under control I force myself to slow my breathing, and keep reminding myself that it was just a dream, not reality.

Actually that thing was more of a nightmare than it was a dream. I mean, I've been having these little interruptions for almost a month now, but that was the first time I've ever actually remembered all of the details of it.

I'm kinda wishing I'd stayed ignorant, which seems to be the theme of the week so far.

I grab my comm and start searching for any open psychological examination appointments. I can deal with the little stuff, but if nightmares like the one I just experienced start becoming a nightly thing…I'm not in any shape to deal with that.

To my intense relief there's an open slot at 1600 later this afternoon, I won't have to go through another night not knowing what the Hell my problem is. I groan as I take a look at the current time.

0400, still half the day to go.

Not willing to go the whole day just ruminating on my problems I start scrolling through my comm's list of contacts, hoping that someone is finally back in the city, or failing that at least no longer busy.

To my relief, there happens to be three of them.

* * *

Three hours later Sun'Barac, Ackwar, H.B. and myself are sitting in the largely empty BLADE cafeteria, each nursing some sort of early morning pick-me-up drink. Ackwar has some sort of orange soda looking thing, Sun'Barac has a glass of chilled water while H.B. is in the process of downing the strongest smelling coffee I've ever whiffed on this planet. I went with the more classic choice of orange juice, because I'm just old fashioned that way.

Setting down his steaming mug and heaving a tired sigh H.B. asks, "Well why did you call us out here Cross? I have four hours of down time before I have to head back to Alpha Base and I was planning on using it to get the first sleep I've had in thirty-one hours. This had better be good."

"Err, Cross is always involved in some important stuff, yah? So it should be good, right?"

I inwardly wince at their words, and the slowly shrinking rational part of my brain starts laughing at my choice of emotional support group.

A Human narcissist one step short of a spoiled middle-schooler, an Orphean politician who's entire career is based on trying to find a rational solution to totally irrational people, and a Ma-non, the species with the biggest self-esteem issues I've ever seen.

What a world.

"Cross? You in there? If it's simply a staring contest you wanted then I'm leaving."

Sighing I decide to just launch straight into it.

"Do any of you have nightmares? Like, really, _really_ bad ones?"

H.B. looks at me like I've grown an extra head, Sun'Barac just looks confused while Ackwar seems concerned.

The giant Orphean asks in a curious tone, "What is a nightmare? From what I have heard from other Humans they seem similar to visions we are sometime granted by the Ovah, only far more vague and often alarming. Is this a correct definition?"

"Yah I'd say that hit the nail on the head. Sounds like you guys don't have to deal with anything like that though."

"Unfortunately so. My apologies."

"You don't need to apologize for that pal, it's fine."

Heaving a sigh H.B. tiredly says, "Cross, while I understand that disturbed sleep is less than a pleasant experience, this hardly seems like something that would disrupt _you_ of all people. I find it hard to imagine you losing control of your own composure to a simple _dream_."

A sudden flash of irritation, anger and stress causes my arm to convulse around the sturdy mug and it crumples like paper, a harsh squealing noise announcing it's deformation.

Trying to get my temper under lock-and-key I hiss out, "Do I fucking _look_ in control?"

Flicking a quick glance at the mug he stares at my face and heavily sighs.

"Not really now that I look closely. In fact you seem as if you're going through withdrawals almost."

Ackwar suddenly raises his hand in a timid manner and says, 'Er Cross? It's nice that you want to talk to us about that stuff and all, but shouldn't you, you know, go see an actual person who deals with that stuff? Right?"

"I am, but it's not for another nine hours and, well…"

"You do not wish to be alone with your thoughts correct?"

I look at Sun'Barac in surprise. I didn't expect him to be the one to figure it out so damn fast.

Amusement in his voice he as sees my expression he explains, "Judging by the look of stress on your face and the tenseness of your body I assumed you called us for companionship and reassurance."

Sometimes I forget just how observant the Orpheans can be, despite their blunt and straightforward nature.

"That's…actually right on the nose. Just sitting and waiting doesn't sound like the most attractive of options right now."

H.B. gives a small shake of his head and asks, "Just what did you see in your dream Cross? I've seen you face down things that would make most BLADEs run for the hills with barely a second thought. Is it really that bad?"

I can only offer a stiff reply of, "Yes. Let's just say it touched on some insecurities I'm not too proud of."

He looks like he wants to know more about said insecurity, but thankfully doesn't pursue the subject.

"Well seeing as how you've already taken steps to rectify your…problem…I suppose I can only ask why _us_ three. No offense meant to you two, but you must admit this is a rather odd support group."

I shrug.

"Everyone else is off doing their own thing. And you're selling yourself short. You're all my friends just as much as everyone else is."

H.B. seems to be at a loss for words for a second before clearing his throat.

"Well I'm honored to hear that. So what exactly do you want to talk about? I have another hour before I really should get some rest. Even a man of my caliber must recharge at some point."

Sun'Barac and Ackwar also nod at his words.

"I have presidential duties to attend to as well. With the Ganglion's loss many of the citizenry are wondering what comes next."

"Er, and I have to help out with BLADE work in a bit as well, so, I'm gonna have to go in a little bit as well. Sorry Cross, but, well, it's my job you know?"

I can't help but snort at the two Xeno's responses.

"It's fine guys I get it. Hell, if anything thanks for coming to see me at all."

Despite my gratitude I can't help but feel a small spike of envy. Who would have thought I'd ever be jealous of someone because they have to go do their jobs?

Sighing I distractedly play with my smushed mug and ask, "How do you three deal with the stress of your positions? H.B., you had to come to grips with balancing your duty against your conscience, and I know that wasn't easy for you. Sun'Barac, you constantly have to deal with who knows how many species asking you for answers, not to mention when you first came to the city your species was under constant threat of extinction. Ackwar, when Yuyu was murdered you didn't blame Humans, even though you had every reason and then some to do so, and have helped more people than I can count ever since."

I shake my head and force out my next words.

"How…how do you keep going? My first identity crisis and I'm already having to go see the psyche doctor, which is goddamned pathetic. Just what do you do to cope?"

The three share a brief glance before Sun'Barac carefully begins with, "My situation is slightly different due to the presence of the Ovah…although after Run'Tonam's discoveries even that connection has started to become suspect. I digress. I have undertaken this responsibility both because the Ovah tells me it is the right thing to do and because helping those that live in this city is a gratifying feeling for me personally. Self-gratification is a strange concept for us Orpheans, exploring this new feeling and seeing the benefits of my work more than offsets the occasional emotion of fear and worry."

H.B. nods and says, "Well said. And you're quite correct in saying that it was not easy to accept my own limitations and flaws. We both know that I can be rather…prideful about my abilities and commitment to making the right choices, rather than the easy ones. I consider myself lucky that I had people who knew the real me such as yourself and Commander Vandham, people who could tell me what I needed to hear, rather than what I wanted. As cliche and uninspiring of an answer as it is, sometimes the best solution to seemingly insurmountable problems is to seek help from others."

Eagerly nodding Ackwar adds, "It's not as bad as you make it sound Cross, right? I already told you before that it was because of your help that I was able to avoid blaming Humans for Yuyu's death, I still feel that way you know? And I know Yuyu would be happy seeing me help all of our new friends in the city, she was always so supportive of me being a BLADE…err, so I guess I can move on because I'm doing this for someone I love-err…loved."

I'm struck for what feels like the dozenth time by just how damn _strong_ Ackwar is. I know a lot of the species in NLA give the Ma-non crap about being neurotic and overly touchy-feely…but they can be made of pretty solid stuff when given the right motivation.

Resting my chin on my hand I lean forward and huff a sigh.

"When you guys explain it like that I feel like an idiot for being so worked up about this. Christ, what a joke."

H.B. shrugs and simply states, "Emotions are rarely logical Cross. I've had my face rubbed in that fact quite a few times now."

He says the last sentence with no small amount of ironic wit in his voice, which makes me snort in amusement.

After some more small talk about their work and what's going on in the city they depart to take care of their own business and I'm left in the corner of the cafeteria, balancing my chair on it's two back legs, lost in thought.

Funny how those three basically just described to me what I'd always known and always done…but was still comforting.

Help those close to you, and do your best for the ones you love. And when you falter, or are faced with a task too large…turn to said people for aid.

I was never all that great at following the latter instructions.

Groaning and rubbing my eyes with a single hand I realize that I'm gonna have to make serious adjustments to some preconceived notions that I've held for more than a year.

* * *

"Welcome to my laboratory Lieutenant Cross. My name's Jamie Curtison, hope we'll get along just fine while picking your brain."

I smile in spite of my rather Emo mood and take a look around the 'laboratory' that is actually just a nicely appointed office with a recliner chair set in a corner, surrounded by three other less fancy ones. Jamie Curtison isn't what one would expect from your standard psychiatrist. Seemingly in her mid-thirties, she's a woman of I'm assuming African descent with an upbeat and irreverent personality, seeming more like a gym trainer than a mental health specialist.

Well whatever. Nothing on this wacko planet can be taken at face value anyway.

"Good to meet you to Miss Curtison, do I need to take my shirt off for the examination?"

She runs an appraising eye over my body before smirking and replying, "Well I certainly won't stop you. Topless or not, feel free to take a seat over in the recliner there and I'll be with you in a minute, just gotta pull up some of your files from the BLADE servers and we'll get started."

I do as instructed and take a deep breath as I settle into the chair. As I sit there I notice a subdued yet familiar citrus scent…almost like an incense. It's not as strong as most incense burnings though, I remember when Bozé first lit one up for my benefit and I almost threw up a lung the smell was so strong.

This is more subdued…and so _familiar_. Dammit where do I know this aroma?

"It's _Burseara Graveolens_ that your smelling Lieutenant, otherwise known as the 'Holy Stick'."

I cock an eyebrow and ask, "How did you know that's what I was wondering? And just Cross is fine."

"Well Cross most people who aren't trying to figure out where a smell is coming from don't have a furrowed brow and aren't frantically sniffing at the air."

"Oh. I guess I was pretty absorbed in my head there for a moment. Sorry bout that."

"No worries, want to get started?"

"Please."

Taking a seat next to mine she starts tabbing through several pages of text and graphs on her device before gaining an almost imperceptible scowl. Turning to me she says in a slightly strained voice, "Do you mind if I ask a few questions about the exact nature of your memory loss and what it entails? I think I have an idea of why you're suddenly suffering from these nightmares and bursts of stress, but it'd be best if I made sure."

I raise an eyebrow in surprise and ask, "Already? I thought it'd take a while before we figured out why I'm losing my mind."

She has a strained smile on her face and replies, "Well I've spent all of my time on Mira helping both BLADEs and civilians cope with the worst disaster to strike Humanity ever, and I was already a very good psychiatrist on Earth anyway. Besides, your condition is…painfully simple, provided I'm right. Your permission?"

"Ask away."

What follows is a _very_ thorough Q&A session where Miss Curtison seemed determined to find out _exactly_ how my memory loss worked, and how it affected me.

Questions about whether I can remember family or friends, whether I remember the sights or scents of Earth. Then follows inquisitions about my state of mind about Earth. Do I miss it? Do I wish I could go back and see it one day?

Well…sure, I would like to be able to magically un-explode Earth and see it for myself, but it's kinda hard to miss something you've never experienced.

After her little questionnaire is done Miss Curtison is quiet for a minute before speaking up with a slight hint of anger to her voice.

"Well I think I know what's wrong with you. Cross, I have quite a bit to tell you, and I'm rather aggravated as of now. As a psychiatrist I know first hand how repression can negatively affect someone, so I would prefer to just let it out now. Are you fine with that?"

I feel like the wolf is asking the rabbit if it can eat it. Even if the rabbit says no, chances are the Wolf is gonna chow down anyway.

"Uh, feel free."

"Oh good. So let's start off with your service record. As of today you have spent roughly four-hundred ninety-six waking days on Mira. That's eleven-thousand nine-hundred four hours. Of those many hours, you have spent _six-thousand eleven_ hours outside of NLA on exploration or combat oriented missions. More than half of your time on this planet. And during these missions you were either engaged in hunting extremely deadly native creatures, or exploring uncharted wilderness no Human has ever encountered before."

She takes a deep breath. " _Aditionally_ , if these records are to be believed, when you did finally grace the city with your presence, you were often engaged in several Mediator duties. While those hours are much harder to track, I would wager you spent another _two-thousand eight-hundred seventy-six_ working hours helping keep the domestic peace. That leaves a little less than three thousand hours left for whatever you do in your spare time."

She fixes me with a deadly gaze and I feel myself sink a little deeper into the chair.

"That averages to roughly _SIX HOURS A DAY_ for things that are not mission specific such as meals, sleep, relaxation, socializing and all the other things normal people do. And that's why Eleanora, Chausson, Vandham and Nagi are couple of moronic _,_ sadistic, ignorant, retarded _dumb fucking IDIOTS_ for doing what they did! What the fuck!? Are they _trying_ to cause you to go insane!?"

At this point I've practically fused with the chair. I wonder of this is what kids feel like when their parents are in the middle of a full blown rant and they can't sneak out of the room.

Summoning the few quivering scraps of my courage I barely squeak out, "Is, is that your professional observation or your opinion?"

She growls out, "Both." before heaving a massive sigh.

"Ok I feel a little better. Now I just need to chew them out in person again and I'll be all better."

"…Again?"

"Oh heck yah. As NLA's leading doctor on mental health and stability, I get a lot of leeway in how I treat my 'superiors'. This'll be the second time I get to yell at Eleanora though… _that_ I'm looking forward to, I rarely get a good opportunity to take that little girl to task."

The happy look on her face as she contemplates about screaming at NLA's four most powerful people causes me to mentally place her at the top of my, 'people who under no circumstances I should EVER mess with', list, booting Eleanora and Sharon to second and third place respectively.

And this demon is who gets to root around in most BLADE's heads? That would explain some of the more…colorful personalities in our organization.

Shaking my head in wonderment I ask, "So you were mentioning how my lifestyle is causing my nightmares?"

"It's not just nightmares it can start to cause. Actually let me start from the beginning before I list all the ways your brain could potentially turn to mush. Kapish?"

"Uh, yah. Kapish."

"Ok the way you explained it to me is that you have no recollection whatsoever of _anything_ of your life before Mira. And when you were woken up all you 'remembered' was basic language, social and combat skills. You were essentially a newborn baby for all intents and purposes. So tell me, are you familiar with the concept of child soldiers?"

"Yah, a lot of my buddies were saying that that's basically what I was once they heard about my past."

"Then surely you realize why you're starting to fall apart."

"…Explain it to me anyway?"

Rolling her eyes she huffs and explains, "All people can suffer from shellshock, PTSD, combat fatigue, whatever. But children are _much_ more susceptible to it than adults, especially if they come from war-torn backgrounds, which they almost always do. Reason being they have no lifetime of experiences to build up a moral code, no memories of family and friends to tone down their instinct to kill, no memories of relaxation or peace to provide a counterpart to their daily lives of constantly struggling to survive. You see where I'm going with this?"

"…You're kidding me. I've never had a single issue until about a day ago. Wouldn't I have lost it way before this?"

"Not necessarily. There's no set time frame for people to lose their bonkers, it varies by person. The main reason I think you held it together for so long was because of those meditative exercises you do. By promoting focus and an even temperament it helped categorize and partition your experiences into manageable clumps. It basically aided your ability to cope, but obviously you were only delaying the inevitable."

We're both silent for a minute before I break the quiet.

"So what's the solution? I don't suppose you have some sort of magic quick fix for me?"

"No such luck. As of this minute you are hereby suspended from combat oriented BLADE missions for the next two months. Two weeks from now you can participate in Mediator missions as long as they don't involve work outside the city, while in one month and two weeks you can start taking collection missions. Aside from that, you're essentially on forced vacation."

I'm stunned silent for a moment.

"…TWO MONTHS?! Are you crazy?! Right after we've lost so many during the last operation?! Doc, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but that's way too long for me to just be spinning my wheels."

"Ok, first things first. Number one, you won't be an asset to a combat team if you're an unstable emotional time bomb that could go off at any moment. Two, you won't be, 'spinning your wheels', you'll be using your time wisely to rest and recuperate so that when you _do_ return to the front lines, you'll be better than ever. And three, if you really did appreciate what I'm trying to do for you, you wouldn't be trying to countermand my orders."

I struggle to find another argument to use and go with a desperation ploy.

"If you really want what's best for the city, you'll let me-"

"I _do_ want what's best for the city Lieutenant, and if that means shoving a syringe of benzodiazepine up your ass so you'll finally _relax_ , then you better believe that's what I'll do."

I'd like to pretend she's joking, but the look in her eyes says she'll do it, and do it joyfully.

Listening to my self-preservation instinct I sigh and say, "You win. Anything I need to sign before my premature retirement?"

She grins sadistically and says, "Just a few forms and I'll take care of the rest Cross. Hope you have fun the next two months!"

"I can't wait." I deadpan.

* * *

The next day was an interesting blend of work and boredom, since it was mostly consumed by routine maintenance checks on my weapons and armor, as well as informing the leadership of my forced vacation.

Actually, is it vacation if it's forced? It's almost like ordering someone to have fun, totally counterproductive. Whatever. At least tomorrow I have something to look forward to, my squad and a few others are coming back to the city, which means I'll actually have a few people to finally talk to.

Although…I'm not really looking forward to the conversation that'll come up once I have to explain why I'm benched for the next couple months. I never really told anyone about my nightmares before this, and now in addition to that I get to say, "Hey, guess what? I'm also apparently losing my mind! The doctor said so!".

This is gonna suck. Even worse is that small, bastard voice in the back of my head that keeps whispering about how they'll be disgusted or turned off by my instability. Of how Celica will look for someone who won't turn into a schizophrenic maniac.

What really bothers me is that I _know_ that said voice is full of crap. I trust those four more than I care to openly admit, and they would never feel that way about me. But the worry is there regardless, and I can't get it to shut up and go away. Christ, I hope that's not another sign of me getting all loopy.

Regardless the day goes by and I have the dubious pleasure of experiencing yet another one of my uncomfortably intense nightmares. Thankfully It didn't hit until I had already gotten some rest, but reliving the same scenario left me in a somewhat high-strung mood. Most of that tension goes out the window though once I see a group of Skells start descending on the city. Spotting my team's machines swooping in for a landing I step out onto the platform and try not to just run out in a mad dash. The leader has to show _some_ reservation after all.

Not that my composure lasts long. Once I see Celica's Skell power down and the cockpit open I'm sprinting across the deck. She see's me and takes a few steps of her own before practically throwing herself into my outstretched arms. She fiercely hugs me and I gently stroke her hair, the other arm pulling her close.

"I was worried you weren't going to make it…It was so _close_ …"

I'm about to make a joke about how I wouldn't _really_ have been dead but decide there's a time and a place for that kind of humor, and it isn't now.

"Well thanks to an amazing girlfriend of mine who's always looking after me, here I am."

She gives a brief snort that's halfway between a laugh and a sob before replying, "I guess that's what we're good at right? Looking after each other."

"Among other things."

I gently tilt her chin up and fiercely kiss her, feeling most of my worries and anxieties wash away just like that.

Aww crap…At this rate I'm going to end up with tears in my eyes as well.

There's the sudden sound of someone clearing their throat and we break apart to find Julun, Vi and Mia amusedly staring at us.

"Pretty sure I know the answer to this, but are we interrupting something?"

I give Mia a mock scowl and growl out, "Some bucket of ice water you are. Welcome back by the way, you're not staying long right?"

Neither of our mock scowls lasts long and we both break out laughing, with Mia rushing in to join in on the hugs. Vi and Julun smile and follow close behind before Mia manhandles them into the group as well, ending up with the five of us in some sort of improvised group hug.

I can't help the giant smile that comes over my face and say, "It's good to see you guys again."

A poor way of expressing just how happy I actually am, but they seem to get it.

"Aw, we missed you too Chief. Never mind that though, what have you been up to these past few days? We've been super busy and have been pretty much kept out of the loop."

I'm about to answer when I notice that most of them seem fairly exhausted, with bags under their eyes and slightly hunched postures. Well we're having none of that.

"Tell you what, you guys take a couple hours to rest and clean up, then we'll talk later this afternoon, sound good?"

They seem relived to hear my suggestion and Julun crinkles her face in disgust after she sniffs her arm.

"Good idea that. Skin smells like month old Scirpo carcass."

Vi grins and says, "Ever the dainty type, aren't you Julun?"

"Quiet Wrothian, or I'll hug you and not let go until smell never comes out of your fur."

"No need for threats."

I smirk at Julun's words and add, "Yah better be careful Vi, I was talking to Gu Ladha the other day and she said she likes a man who smells like roses."

He gives the Wrothian equivalent of a blush and we all share a laugh at his expense.

Damn it feels good to have my friends back.

* * *

A couple hours and a few less haggard looking teammates later we're seated in the BLADE cafeteria, discarded plates and glasses pushed off to the side. Sighing I start off with, "So what have you guys been up to these last few days? I haven't heard much in the way of news out here."

Julun shrugs and replies, "Mostly patrol and scouting duties. Little in way of actual combat. Lots of boring things. You're time is likely more interesting."

I wryly grin, she probably doesn't have any idea just how right she is.

"Well you could say that. Better settle in, this'll take awhile…"

After I finish I lean back and try to conceal how nervous I actually feel about their impending reactions.

Mia and Julun seem sympathetic while Vi looks disgusted, thankfully not at me. That Wrothian honor code probably has him super disturbed at my treatment.

Celica is the one that has me worried, with a brooding look on her face and a dark gleam in her eyes that promises someone is going to pay. While I'm touched that she feels so protective of me, trying to stab one of NLA's leaders isn't going to do either of us any favors. Besides, Miss Curtison sent me a video recording of her giving all four of them a severe dressing down, I'll show it to Celica later.

I'd asked her if she made that recording specifically for my benefit, but she'd merely shrugged and said she would have done it anyway so she could go back and watch it later to cheer herself up on a rainy day.

I find it somewhat disturbing that our city's top psychiatrist is something of a psychopath herself.

Quickly reaching over and holding Celica's hand I give her my most reassuring smile and to my relief she loses her aggravated attitude, going for resigned instead.

"Don't tell me, let me guess. Because everything is now going to work itself out, you aren't going to hold a grudge, and we should move on?"

I put an arm around her shoulders and give a quick squeeze.

"You know me so well."

"You're far too considerate for your own god. And yes, I know that I'm the last person that should be saying that, but I'm stating it anyway."

Mia nods with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You know I think this'll be good for you Chief. Maybe now that you're going crazy you'll finally learn that throwing yourself headfirst into danger is unhealthy."

"Great advice Mia, I never would have thought of that on my own."

"I aim to please Chief."

Vi stretches and then looks at me inquisitively.

"Two months before you can go back to combat missions. What are you going to do in the meantime Cross?"

"Well it's only two weeks before I can take Mediator stuff, so I'll at least have something to do then. I bet Hope and Ackwar wouldn't mind having a helping hand along for the ride. It's the two weeks before that where I have no idea what to do. How long before you guys have to head out again?"

"We have three days leave before we're heading back out to Alpha Base. It seems your superiors and Prince Jiarg aren't convinced the Ganglion are completely defeated."

"I'll believe our fight with them is done once they've surrendered. Well at least I get to bother you all for the next three days."

Julun deadpans and replies, "Can hardly wait, should be great fun for commanding officer to hound subordinates on their days off."

"I knew you missed me."

* * *

The next few days are a relief, since I have people to distract me from my own thoughts and things I can do to help them, such as helping repair equipment or get replacements parts, so on and so forth. The date I went on with Celica the night before they left the city was memorable in particular, as it got a little grabby by the end of it.

The hard part comes once they leave. No one I'm particularly familiar with is rotating back to NLA so I'm left with no real task to do aside from the usual reading Eleanora assigns me. And even that is less of a mandatory task and more of a habit at this point.

So I do the only thing I can do. I train.

While I got the rug pulled non-too ceremoniously out from under me when Nahum kicked my ass, I can either mope and let my skills stagnate, or I can make sure that I'm the absolute best this universe has ever seen.

Maybe that's reaching for the stars when I just recently pulled my head from the mud pit, but hey. That's what inspirational posters are for.

Regardless I embark on a training regimen that would make Rocky cry for mercy. Get up at 0500 and until 0700 work on meditative exercises and stretches, working through the stress and worries that a night of unpleasant dreams has given me. Grab a bite to eat, then at 0730 work on close quarters combat. I'm attempting to expand my repertoire of weapons beyond dual wielding swords, and am working on the _kendo_ forms I've seen Nagi use, as well as the more intricate fencing styles that are suitable for Photon Sabers. While not really my cup of tea, I'm also learning to handle a spear as well as any of the other weapons, despite it's emphasis on more telegraphed and straightforward techniques rather than the quick and elegant moves I'm more accustomed to.

Once 1230 hits I head to the BLADE training fields and often act as a sort of guest instructor, both practicing and teaching anything and everything. From _Karate to Ju-Jitsu,_ all the way to _Evala_ wrestling (minus the circumcising) and _Pygmachia._ If I wasn't told all the names of these styles I wouldn't have even known I knew them.

Regardless this goes on till 1530, at which point I go to the firing range and work on my marksmanship. Hopefully once Bozé comes back he can coach me on the finer points of long distance shooting, until then it's mostly self-study, since I'm at least already competent. That lasts until 1730 at which point I break for dinner and shower. At 1830 I hit the books and study tactical theory as well as a variety of literature on being anything more highly ranked than a Lieutenant. Occasionally there's a book on psychology or physics thrown in just to keep things interesting. By 2100 I call it a day and spend until 0100 catching up on my Earth media and other things.

Rinse and repeat.

And you know what? It sorta starts to work. I'll still occasionally have a more intense variety of nightmare, and not a night goes by without me being woken up by some sort of dream. But it's starting to bother me less and less now, and with my relentless training schedule I'm starting to improve in areas where I was merely 'good' or 'passable' before. Give me another month and I'd like to challenge Nahum's ghost and see who the better fighter is now.

* * *

Once I'm cleared to take part in Mediator missions I start helping Hope and Ackwar with their tasks, and during these missions I'm treated to a rather unexpected surprise. Well, unexpected by me at least. Hope just rolled her eyes at my obliviousness.

Apparently all that talk of me being 'NLA's Hero' wasn't just exaggeration. People honestly feel that way, which scares the Hell out of me truth be told. Whenever I would step in to help settle a dispute or solve someone's grievance, I would almost always be treated with respect, if not outright awe. Apparently a significant portion of the city is following my latest exploits with almost religious fervor, and my recent battle with Nahum spread like wildfire. Piloting a newly developed and highly experimental Skell in one-on-one combat against the Ganglion's commander and then supposedly sacrificing myself so that other NLA forces could easily finish her off made for quite the emotional story.

While the constant attention and hero worship makes me super uncomfortable and wish that I was just another anonymous BLADE…I'd be lying if the gratitude of an entire city doesn't make feel a little good about myself. I was especially surprised that practically no one cared that I had lost the actual fight itself. If anything people seemed to admire me more for actually getting my ass handed to me, as if I went up against a superior opponent knowing I'd likely lose.

Well they're not wrong about me getting my wrecked by a superior opponent.

Not important, basically I can at least hold my head high when walking around the city. That makes a difference.

* * *

And just like that a month was gone in the blink of an eye. And here I was thinking it would take forever. Just goes to show what I know. Things were finally reaching some sort of semblance of normality after the Ganglion's routing, and more of the people I considered close friends were coming back to the city after the clean-up operation was finally calming down. Deciding to 'celebrate' by going on a collection mission with Team Cross (Still hate that name) we headed out for Sylvalum in search of a few Spirit Wands.

Sharon had put up the job and contacted me ahead of time so that I got first dibs, and I briefly contemplated asking what a Spirit Wand could be made into, but decided I didn't want to know.

The idea of making a Nopon holy relic into Viagra is just a bit too much for me to handle.

Regardless it went largely without a hitch, although finding one of the damn things took _days_. Thank god the payout is worth it.

Sharon had a bit of a surprise in store for me once we arrived back in NLA however.

I had just gone to turn in the Wand to Sharon while everybody else went to put their equipment away, so we ended up in our usual position of me standing in front of her desk making wisecracks while she did the mental equivalent of counting to ten.

"…all I'm saying is that I can only imagine the shocked looks on the Nopon's faces when they see someone grinding one of their holy plants into a bong and then smoking it. Or maybe that'll give rise to a whole new brand of Nopon worship. Then again, I don't think having a bunch of drugged out Nopon-"

"Cross, please shut up."

"Shutting up now."

I decide not to grin lest Sharon decide I've been a bit too much of a smartass the last few minutes and start working on some payback. She releases a heavy sigh and leans back in her chair, massaging her shoulder.

"Good work as always hon. On that note, I actually have a bit of an offer for you. One that you may like."

"Does it involve me getting snacked on by Indigens? I wouldn't put it past you since you _did_ just seem rather peeved by me."

"Relax, it's nothing that lethal. How would you feel about owning your own personal house in the newly built residential section?"

I'm silent for a second.

And then quite a few more.

"Er, sorry, did I hear-"

"You did."

"Ok, so you'll excuse me for wondering about the how and why."

"For the how, a 'business associate' of mine gave me a very good deal on this office here on the condition I buy endorse some of his real estate farther down the road. I'm offering very good deals to friends of mine and they'll appreciate having one of these new places. Everyone's happy once all is said and done. As for why…well I've spent some time in the BLADE barracks. While nice, they're more places you stay at, not come home to. And I heard about your difficulties dealing with PTSD. Take it from me Cross, having a home to come back to makes a difference. Give it some thought."

And I do. About three seconds actually.

"Where is it? I'd like to take a look later today."

She smiles like the cat that just caught the canary.

* * *

Two hours later I'm perusing the new residential district for this mystery home. The neighborhood in this area still seems fairly empty, although that might just be the time I'm visiting, since it's like 1400 in the afternoon right now. Everyone's probably just out working right now.

Continuing to walk through the district I finally come across the address Sharon gave me. Taking a good look at my potential home I take stock of it's features.

Built in the Craftsman style it's around thirteen-hundred square feet with two floors, similar to the other homes in the area. They're true Miran homes, made with materials found in the wilds of Primordia, Noctilum and Oblivia. They come with a variety of different interior designs to better accommodate the several different physiologies of the species living in NLA. Unlocking the door with the key I was given I walk inside and raise an appreciative eyebrow.

While I'm not too familiar with what constitutes 'good taste' in this day and age, seeing as how I never had much use for it living in the barracks, there's a sort of subtle elegance to the design, with neutral colors and functional furniture. The first floor is largely devoted to a large common room with kitchen attached. There's also a small guest room with a half-bath attached.

Upstairs there's two separate bedrooms with full bathrooms attached with a balcony in the master bedroom overlooking the center of NLA, a great view that is well worth the two million the house runs for. I take a deep breath and stretch, feeling a strange relaxed feeling as I look around the city from my vantage point. I guess there's a lot of truth to what Sharon said about having a place that belongs to you.

* * *

"Never thought we'd actually be walking into your very own home Cross. I always just imagined you would be living in that walk-in closet for the rest of your life."

"Well I'm just always full of surprises Vi. And everyone get's tired of living in a 3x3 'room' at some point in their life."

I couldn't buy the house quickly enough once I'd finished looking through it. Which was actually kind of funny when I realized that if I'd never actually gone and looked at the place, I'd never have thought I was missing anything.

Live and learn. Regardless I had gone ahead and introduced my new home to my teammates, who were unanimously shocked that I had gone ahead and pulled such a surprise maneuver.

Well at least I didn't have much furniture or luggage to move, the benefit of not really setting down roots anywhere.

"Man Chief, you really made out like a bandit on this particular deal!" Mia exclaims as she throws herself down onto one of the chairs in the common room. Julun joins her and remarks, "Chairs are very comfortable. I think I will start living here now."

"You're welcome to, but I'll warn you now ladies, rent is _very_ expensive."

Mia sighs dejectedly.

"Guess I'm back on the streets then. Ain't no way I can afford any price that you're thinking of."

"Well I _will_ need a housekeeper…"

Celica swats me on the arm after Mia looks even more down than before and I decide I've done enough mental damage for now.

"I'm joking Mia, feel free to visit whenever. Just promise not to eat all my food."

Perking up a little she happily replies with, "I won't make a promise I can't keep!"

Vi snorts and turns to me with a knowing look on his face.

"So you finally decided to start considering this city your _real_ home?"

I roll my eyes at his usual perceptiveness.

"Yes grandmaster-wiseman, I suppose I did."

Celica loops her arm through my own and happily announces, "Well since we're all here you might as well give us the grand tour."

Pulling my ear right next to her mouth she lowly whispers so that the others can't hear, "And you can also show me bedroom for later…"

My eyes snap to hers so fast I'm surprised my retinas don't detach themselves from their sockets. Meeting her own deep blue pair I see mostly shyness, surprise at her own boldness and a little playfulness all mixed together.

It makes for one _Hell_ of an alluring mix.

* * *

Unfortunately for me, we don't get the opportunity to do anything quite so stimulating as we spent the rest of the day hanging out with the other three, and in the middle of our time together an emergency BLADE call went out for assistance. Naturally, I got left behind.

So not only was I left out of the fun again, I was also experiencing my first case of the blue balls.

Fun times all around.

Ah well. I don't begrudge Celica her unwavering dedication and work ethic. If we're being totally honest, I'm actually kind of turned on by that. Guess I'm just weird that way.

* * *

Five more days go by as usual when a rather exciting bombshell is dropped. NLA is going to be celebrating it's first annual U-Day, or Unification Day, in a couple days time. Basically a celebration of all the different species that live in the city and our victory over the Ganglion, as well as a memorial of sorts for all the dead Xeno's that gave their lives in assuring the city's safety, it was sanctioned by all the species's representatives and is supposed to last two days and nights before it ends.

Hope, Ackwar, Sun'Barac, Ni Zinga and myself were given the unofficial titles of 'key event and cross-species coordinators', which meant we were busy for the next three days of preparation 24/7. Things like ensuring enough food of different varieties was available, adequate seating for all the different species at the various events, making sure there was no time overlap in all the different events, keeping people from strangling each other…and that was just the 'easy' stuff. Don't get started on the more administrative details like making sure there was no allergic reactions to some foodstuffs or materials used in the celebration, as well as coordinating with Vandham and Nagi to make sure there was a rotating guard of BLADEs while the celebration was happening.

Well there was certainly enough to keep me distracted and busy, to vastly understate the scope of my activities. But once the actual event rolled around, it was worth it.

* * *

"I can't believe you helped organize all this Cross. It's…actually really emotional."

I decide to roll with the praise and simply smile at Lin.

"To be totally fair Hope and Ga Buidhe did most of this particular bit, although I did suggest the venue for it. Glad you like it though, we spent a lot of time making sure this was an emotional start to the celebration."

To commence the beginning of U-Day, we're holding the honoring of the many dead first thing in the morning. While no Humans are part of the ceremony, seeing as how they aren't technically dead, there are a number of Xenos being remembered today.

We were initially worried that the Xenos might object to our idea, but they were strangely on board with it. The Prone usually do the whole 'feed to a beast' thing, but were quite excited at the idea of an entire city of people recognizing the greatness of their fallen. They'll display their dead's names then feed the corpse to a Miran animal first chance they get.

The Wrothians have a slightly different custom. They display the fully armored bodies of their fallen in caskets of white linen, their wounds on full display as they move the bodies through the gathered crowd. While somewhat macabre seeming, I think it's actually quite fitting. If they died for our safety, the least we can do is see how they died, and the price of our freedom.

We had the ceremony take place on the area where the Forge usually is, after we moved much of the prefabricated equipment out of the way. It's the ideal location as people at the ground level and on the BLADE concourse can view the event.

And boy is there people aplenty. It feels like half the city is gathered around the field, with huge throngs of people lined up watching the proceedings with a suitably grave atmosphere. Even the Nopon and Ma-non present are fairly subdued, showing a restraint rarely witnessed from them.

Before the actual departing of the bodies takes place I see Chausson take his position behind a slightly raised podium. While we weren't sure how well the Xenos would take to having a Human speak at their funeral ceremonies, they readily agreed to having Chausson say a few words before they began. It makes sense in retrospect, since the Director-General is the one who is largely responsible for offering them asylum in NLA. They probably respect him a lot more than the rank and file BLADE members do.

"Citizens of NLA, we gather here today to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our city, who gave their lives so that we might find a more prosperous future."

He gives a short pause to add weight to his next words.

"I say citizens of NLA, not Human, Prone, Ma-non, Orphean, Nopon or any other species. I say citizens, because we have proven yet again that united, we can survive. We can _thrive._ United, our city will continue to grow, and one day be a shining beacon among the stars, an example of how strong a civilization can be when they are many distinct parts comprising a greater whole."

He pauses again, and I hear the slight tremor in his voice as he resumes speaking.

"We will thrive…thrive, because of the sacrifice of a brave few who saw the potential we have, and believed it was worth dying for. They will be remembered."

He steps down and there's dead silence. I give an inward nod of approval as I see a few misty eyed people around me. Chausson can really make a good speech when he decides to keep it short and to the point. He might have been a bit rosy about how all of our species work together…but I think that optimism is warranted, as I look around and see many different body shapes and sizes, but one common feeling of grief, sadness and determination in the eyes of every being around me.

Shared experiences are powerful.

* * *

Once the actual funeral portion was over…well, the city went _insane_.

People were running up and down the streets like they were possessed, trying to see every single attraction and vendor the town had to offer. Practically all of the Industrial, Residential, Commercial and parts of the Administrative districts were devoted to revelry and celebrations of one sort or another.

The first six hours of the party are my time to play keeper of the peace, at which point I'm free to enjoy the rest of the attractions to my hearts content until tommorow, barring any sudden disasters.

I was initially worried that in between the booze, intoxicants, upbeat atmosphere and who knows what else arguments and fights would be cropping up all over the city. Thankfully while there was plenty of good natured ribbing, most confrontations didn't end going anywhere past that stage. I only had to break up two fights that were getting a bit out of hand. The first was in between a group of Orpheans and Sullivan.

Unsurprisingly, the Orpheans had gotten a little too impressed with the massive collection of Miran flora that Sullivan was displaying in a sort of science fair setting and had eaten a couple before Sullivan could stop them. Unfamiliar with the Orphean's tendency to eat plants and then reproduce them easily, she had proceeded to kick the crap out of them until I could drag her off and fill her in on the details.

It must suck to be a largely pacifistic race when an enraged woman is beating the daylights out of you.

The second event went a little less smoothly.

"Ha! You pretend to have warrior honor?! Then fight me man-to-man and we'll see how potent your 'honor' actually is!"

"What would Cavern Clan scum know of man-to-man fighting? Only beat Tree Clan when given Ganglion weapons, in conventional battle we would slaughter you all!"

"Err…there's a field where people can spar just over there you kn-"

"Enough talk Tree Bastard! Let us settle this now!"

"Make your peace with whatever whore Gods you worship, for you shall meet them soon!"

Sighing Ackwar looks at me.

"They're totally ignoring us aren't they?"

I give a sage nod.

"That they are."

"So that means we can use force right?"

"Well they _are_ Prone…"

"Hmm…ok then! Do your thing Cross, ok?"

"You got it buddy."

Uzoma Vassago and Treant Goroth, each from the Tree and Cavern Clan respectively, had clearly had a little too much to drink since they were normally pretty level-headed and were gearing up for a massive brawl with several other Prone watching the battle with obvious interest. We were afraid something like this was gonna happen quite honestly.

For months the two Prone Clans have managed to avoid any serious spats between their two factions, but with the party and plenty of booze flowing, we figured this was going to be the breaking point. And sure enough, we now have a bit of a domestic riot on our hands if we don't settle this quickly.

But that's why I'm here.

Thankfully I had the foresight to wear my armor during my shift, otherwise what I'm about to do probably wouldn't work nearly as well.

Throwing finesse to the wind I walk right up to Treant and before he notices my presence I haul back my fist and punch him in the gut as hard as I can. My fist sinks all the way to the wrist and he gives a brief coughing noise that sounds halfway between a barf and a sneeze before collapsing. Taking advantage of Uzoma's confusion I perform a smooth skip in his direction and lash my foot out at his knee, quickly knocking it out from under him. With his head now level with mine I pull back and smash my helmet into his forehead making a dull 'bonk' noise and he briefly staggers.

Grabbing his arm and pulling him next to where Treant is just managing to breath again I get right in their faces.

"I'm go to say this once, and _only_ once. You two want to fight each other? Work out some long simmering issues? Go for it. But we have an arena just for that purpose, and you're going take your little dispute over there away from where others are trying to have a good time, understand? I catch you fighting anywhere that _isn't_ our little coliseum, and I'll settle your fight for you. And I won't be gentle like I just was. Understand?"

They both wordlessly nod and I stand straighter. Having a reputation as a seriously badass fighter can be handy sometimes.

"Good. Now either get moving or play nice with each other."

I turn away from them in clear dismissal and silently pray that they do what I say. Having a bunch of rebellious Prone after my ass is gonna require some Skell backup and a lot of tear gas before they calm down. Thankfully they take my warning to heart and head over to the sparring stadium where the Human, Wrothian and autosentry wardens can keep an eye on things. And it's better that they finally get to vent some of their long standing racial feud instead of letting it continue to fester.

I give an exhausted sigh and turn to Ackwar.

"So what next?"

"Well there's some Nopon who just tried to buy some of the Wrothians sword making techniques, but neglected to mention that they were paying in folk songs…also there's a few Humans that are apparently getting a little too drunk and breaking furniture. So which one should we handle?"

I give a defeated grimace. Two more hours of this…oy vey.

* * *

"YES! Finally done! I'm free!"

"Well goof for frickin' you Cross. Wanna rub it in our faces a little more?"

I smirk at Tracy and happily reply, "No need to worry I already took care of the hard stuff, it'll be easy street for you guys. Take care now!"

I dance out of the temporary armory after turning in my armor and weapons, eager to head back to my humble abode, take a shower, switch into my party outfit and then meet with my recently returned girlfriend.

SO glad that my shift is over now. Forty-five minutes later I'm all cleaned up and place a call to Celica. It rings for almost a minute before she manages to pick up and I can hear the sound of a busy city in the background as she's practically shouting into the voice pickup.

"Cross! Are you finally finished!?"

"Indeed I am, where are you at right now?"

"Just outside the lift to the A.D., Rock's event is just about to start, will you make it in time?"

I check my timepiece and grin. 1500, perfect timing.

"As long as I run, I'll see you there!"

"I've missed your rather badly, now hurry up."

Her voice then drops to a conspiratorial whisper, "Also, I met Doug and Elma and am currently standing next to them. They're both acting rather shy around each other and I think we should fix that."

I feel an evil smile spread and gleefully reply, "Celica, have I recently told you just how much I love you?"

* * *

I ended up cutting my arrival a little closer than I wanted to at 1525, but I made it regardless. After the crowds cleared out earlier after the funeral processions left the scene, several tiered observation platforms were set up around the area creating a sort of pseudo-gladiatorial pit. Most of the stands are already filled with people eager to watch the show and it takes me a minute to find my three people.

I'm clued in once I see Doug waving madly at me and I immediately disregard the stair setups to simply vault up the safety railing to where he, Elma and Celica are standing.

Setting aside Doug and Elma for now I grab Celica by the waist and pull her into a very forceful, very passionate kiss. I feel more than hear her brief hum of surprise and excitement before she wraps her own arms around me and pulls us even deeper into the kiss. This probably goes on for a few seconds before I hear some wolf whistles around us and Doug awkwardly clear his throat. Elma just laughs.

Pulling away for air we share a happy smile and I take a look at her, quickly feeling blood rush to both my cheeks and a certain…lower area once I see how beautiful she looks.

While she wore the Midi dress on our first date stunningly…it didn't necessarily feel like _her_. What she's wearing now however, seems as if it was meant for her to wear. A V-neck swing mini dress that's undone _just_ enough to offer a tantalizing hint of her cleavage, covered in a floral print that accentuates the deep blue color of the dress…all rounded out by the Hibiscus I first gave to her adorning her hair.

Good GOD she's beautiful. She also seems to notice my lack of composure and smiles cheekily.

"Cat got your tongue Cross?"

Recovering I quickly shoot back, "You look like the reason half the cities gone mad."

She catches my meaning and slightly blushes before quietly taking my hand and simply smiles. I then remember that there's two other people that we're currently with right now. Oops. I turn around and see Doug with a bemused look on his face.

"You've never greeted me that enthusiastically before Cross. What gives?"

"Ah that's just because you're way taller than me Doug. How ridiculous would it look if I had to get on my tip-toes to recreate that scene?"

He snorts and I give Elma a happy salute.

"Doug's been a gentleman I presume?"

"Oh he most certainly has. Practically to a T."

I see an odd play of emotion on her face after she finishes her sentence that roughly translates to, 'almost _too_ much of a gentleman'.

I hide my grin and immediately think of a plan to remedy that.

"Look, they're beginning!"

I put my thoughts on hold as Celica excitedly points to a break in the stands that doubles as entrance and exit. Rock and an Excavator Skell

frame walk in to the center podium, where a raised table of sorts is located. The crowd of people starts cheering and I shout as loud as I can, "YOU GOT THIS ROCK, YOU ROCK!"

Knowing how to properly use your lungs and diaphragm gives me a voice that can crack granite when I really put my mind to it. In fact everyone around me winces and I snicker at their reactions. Celica leans over and whispers in my ear, "Who would have thought one of the quieter BLADEs had the loudest voice?"

"Ah well it's all that hot air you see."

She snorts and goes back to watching the event. An announcer then walks in holding a microphone and starts to kick things off.

"Citizens of NLA, welcome to the first ever Miran Skelleton Games! I'm your host Anthony Ricardo and today we have three events lined up for you folks and boy are they something special! First let's give it up for our first contestants, Alexa in her custom model 'Bicep-O-Tron!"

There's a chorus of approving shouts as Alexa steps outside the cockpit and gives an ecstatic wave.

"And last but by no mean's least, let's hear some love for our resident construction guru himself, ROCK!"

The crowd of a few hundred people go nuts. I guess most people here really appreciate all the new roads and stuff he's been working on for awhile now. As for the big guy himself he bashfully waves at the crowd before ducking his head again, clearly shy of all the attention he's getting. Celica is smiling so widely I'm surprised she hasn't given herself a strained jawline.

"Alright enough of the introductions, let's get to what you're all waiting for! Contestants! Take your positions!"

Rock and Bicep-O-Tron turn to face each other…and clasp hands for an arm wrestle.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I had a large hand in planning this particular event. Most fun I had in ages. Or age. Whatever.

"Three…two…one…Begin!"

With a sudden hiss and whine of straining servos the right arm of Alexa's Skell starts staring against Rock's own rather impressive bicep. NLA's Skell design teams clearly put a lot of work into making that limb as strong as possible, as it's almost three times the size of a conventional Skell arm even without the armor. Heck, the fact that it's putting up a fight against Rock is testament to it's power.

The crowd is going wild at this point, with everyone screaming their heads off and wildly gesticulating at the struggle happening below. Unfortunately for Alexa, Rock is just a little too ripped for her machine and with a sudden screech he overpowers the Skell and slams it's arm into the pedestal below.

A roar of approval sounds out and Ricardo shouts out, "Victory goes to Rock, proving rather convincingly that yes, flesh is mightier than metal!"

I smile as Rock, ever the good sport, gives Alexa a giant sized handshake and they walk out together as the next act starts setting up shop.

Celica turns to me and gratefully says, "Thank you for convincing Rock to take part in these games. He looked so happy…"

I give a winning smile and gently kiss her hand.

"Hey he's a friend of mine to. Any opportunity I get to hype him up to the city is an opportunity I'll take."

She start's laughing and replies, "So modest and full of good intentions."

"I aim to please _mi amor_."

The sudden sound of heavy footsteps cut all conversation and two Formula's walk into the arena…dressed in Wrap Skirts and painted in striking shades of black and red.

Elma looks at me with a look of horror on her face.

"Cross…what monstrosity did you and your friends create."

I smirk in reply.

"That, Colonel, is what will henceforth be known as the 'Titanium Tango'. Basically Skell dancing routines."

Elma looks scandalized while Celica and I both start laughing at her expression. Apparently the idea of Humanities's crown military machine being used as a dance-bot is causing her no small amount of distress. Doug looks like he's also forcing down a laugh with limited success. Boy if she's freaked out by this she's going to _hate_ what I planned for the finale. Skell break-dancing is something truly impressive since the transforming nature of Skells allows for some seriously badass moves. What's not to like about that?

* * *

Half an hour later with the Skelleton Games ending Elma looks like her dog just died while everyone else in the stadium is practically rolling with laughter. Watching a Lailah pull off a hand glide into a moon walk is a novelty most people never thought they would see in their lives, and I'm _so_ glad I suggested it during the brainstorming operation.

Celica looks at me from the corner of her eye and shakes her head in obvious amusement.

"Leave it to you to come up with an inappropriate use for expensive military hardware."

"To be fair, the Ma-non helped. Apparently they got their hands on some old B-Boy Championship videos and thought it was the coolest thing ever right after Pizza. And here we are."

She gives an incredulous shake of her head before looking at Elma and Doug and gaining an almost imperceptible frown.

"Cross, do they seem…well, rather awkward with each other?"

"Sorta like us before we started dating?"

"Actually, yes. And yet again it looks like it's the boy's fault for not taking action."

"Hey we both fell for two of the most stunning women in NLA. You can forgive us for having slight self-confidence issues."

She gives me a deadpan look.

"You'd never know it by the way you speak."

"It's all an act to give me some confidence and peace of mind. Now you know my secret, please don't dump me."

She snorts and I give a quick glance behind me and feel a small frown appear on my lips similar to Celica's. She's right that the two of them seem…oddly formal with each other. There's no tension or anything like that, but neither of them seem comfortable being the one to initiate anything intimate. Well I think we're going to change that. I lean in close to Celica's ear and whisper, "When I give the signal jump into my arms and try to knock me over. I've got a plan that's just childish enough to work."

"You have my attention boy genius…so what's the signal?"

"This."

And with a mischievous grin I give her ass a quick squeeze, feeling the almost hypnotic feeling of hard muscle and soft flesh tense under my hand as her eyes widen and she let's out a yelp, jumping forward and quickly pushing me backward.

Right into Doug's back as he's facing Elma. Toppling forward with a grunt of surprise he knocks over Elma and they land on top of each other, both starting to furiously blush as they realize their rather…compromising position, with Doug positioned perfectly between Elma's splayed thighs. So scandalous.

I grin and quickly say aloud, "Well if you two are going to be so open in your affections with each other I think Celica and myself will just get out of your hair. Catch you later!"

I quickly guide Celica past them just as Doug starts to splutter a reply and we quickly leave the stadium. I smile at a mission accomplished…right before my left butt cheek is grabbed in a vice-grip that has nails. Wincing I turn towards Celica who is looking at me with an equal look of annoyance and amusement.

"You're _very_ lucky that worked, or you'd be in the 'Dog House' as your people call it."

She gives a quick twist of her wrist that elicits a wince from me before I start grinning uncontrollably.

"It was a calculated risk. No doubt Mia would be saying something about how it's a good thing I'm into pain since you seem to get your jollies off that way."

She makes a noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, while I intertwine my fingers with hers and we head off towards our next destination.

* * *

Not all of the planned events are anything quite as…bizarre as the Skelleton Games though. There's several more relaxed events such as acrobatics shows, different art exhibits and lots of oratory demonstrations as well. In fact there's one show being put on by Nimu Turton that delves into some of the Prone mythology that I'm dying to see, which is where we're headed right now.

He was given a small venue in Deliverance Park to deliver his sort-of sermons that can seat around a hundred people or so, since the slightly raised hill allows for people to look down to where he's sitting without blocking each other's view. As I look around though, there's _a lot_ more than one hundred people. In fact it's a lot closer to two hundred. Something like three quarters of the attendees are also a mix of Ma-non, Wrothians and Prone with the rest being Humans. Since space is at a premium, it provides me a decent excuse to pull Celica on my lap to make more room for all the people that want to watch.

I don't think either of us are fooled for a second as to what my real reason was.

Regardless, everyone eventually get's situated and Nimu clears his throat before beginning without preamble, "Welcome to all of you, it is somewhat surprising to me to see so many interested in Tree Clan beliefs, yet very gratifying. While there is much to cover in our history, a famous and important one is the tale of the Skinwalker."

Taking a deep breath he modulates his voice into almost hypnotic tones and begins.

"Before Ganglion enslaved Tree Clan, even before Cavern and Tree Clan made war on each other, we struggled mightily. Tormein, our home planet, played host to many dangerous and ferocious beasts. During the day we were safe, as we could see the creatures under the light of the sun, and many preferred to hunt under the cover of darkness. The day belonged to us…but the night was their time. We were constantly preyed upon, often begging for the light of a new day to deliver us from these beings hunts."

He gives the Prone equivalent of a smile.

"The one day the sun listened to our prayers. Descending from the sky, it took the body of a young, willing Prone and usurped the boy. In return for the Prone's sacrifice, the sun would help us fight against the night, slowly letting us take control of our world. Teaching us the way of combat and courage, we began to push back the beasts of Tormein's twilight. This continued for many years until one day the creatures fought back in a unified manner. Falling upon our homes with bloodthirsty abandon, we were slowly pushed to the brink of extinction. Retreating to one of our last bastions we thanked the sun for all it had done, and only expressed regret that it's efforts had gone to waste along with the sacrifice of the brave Prone who's body it had taken."

His voice had gone quiet, almost a whisper as his words came to a close. No one even breathed. But when he looked up there was a fire in his eyes, and his voice was stronger than ever.

"Yet the Sun did not chastise or abandon us. Instead, the Sun promised that we would survive, as long as we were prepared to never give in to the dusk and resist it's advances no matter the cost. We readily agreed, wanting nothing more than to finally allow our families and children a worthwhile future. The Sun listened to our words and suddenly it rent apart it's container, showering the world with it's golden form. With the aid of some of our greatest warriors the sun strode forth against the beasts, using weapons that would set fire to the creatures, yet slicing them as smooth as any blade."

He sighed dramatically, before continuing his tale.

"But there was a cost to the Sun's power. It's powerful golden form could not be held on Tormein's surface for very long without the aid of a vessel. By the time our struggle finally ended with the beasts confined to their lairs, dozens, if not hundreds of Prone had gladly given their bodies in service to our people. When our war was finally over, and the night belonged to the Prone, the Sun quietly returned to the sky with little fanfare, weary of killing so many of it's children and desiring nothing more than to rest. We remember the Sun and the Prone's sacrifice, and call them 'Skinwalkers', honoring the manner in which they gave their skin to the Sun. The word Skinwalker is given to those who are heroes and friends to all Prone, and are accorded the highest respect in our society."

Once he finishes there's a tremendous round of applause, with me leading the way. The guy certainly knows how to tell a story.

* * *

It's not until 0100 the next morning that the two of us finally admit we're tired. Well it's mostly just Celica, the whole artificial body thing means I could have kept going for another few hours. Not that continuing on my lonesome would have been nearly as fun.

"I had an amazing time tonight Cross. Although I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at some of the more…eccentric events you planned."

"I'll take that as an amazing compliment."

"It was _mostly_ intended that way."

We both share a chuckle as we pass a small group of BLADE's drunkenly singing _Under the Bridge_. As they belt out a chorus of, " _Under the bridge downtown, forgot about my love!_ " I feel a familiar pang of exclusion and loneliness that leaves me scowling at myself. It irks me to no end that I _still_ feel ostracized about these things, despite the fact that I feel happier now than I ever did before. Heck, I'm even coming to terms with my past, however slowly.

I feel a soft hand gently hold my own and Celica looks at me with some measure of concern.

"Does it still bother you?"

I sigh and reply wryly, "I'm beginning to wonder if Qlurians actually have mind reading powers and you're just not telling me."

"Maybe we do." she says with a smile, although she loses some of her humor with her next words.

"Actually as soon as you heard that song your face fell and attitude dimmed somewhat."

I grimace at how easy I am to read and take a moment to put my feelings into words.

"It does still hurt and it probably always will to some extent…but before I would just ignore or disregard my reactions and focus on something else. Now I can face it and move on regardless."

I smile and gently kiss her temple.

"Blame it on some people I met."

She smiles her usual radiant smile and snuggles into my side as we continue our walk through the Residential District. Right as we reach the crossroads that lead to the Industrial District I move to walk her home when her body suddenly collides with mine and we ungracefully flounder on our feet for a moment, looking for all the world like a pair of drunks.

Recovering our balance I raise an eyebrow at her and ask, "Lost your way for a minute there?"

She raises an eyebrow of her own and archly replies, "Were we not returning to your home for the night?"

Which of course sends my brain to a screeching halt and I spend about two entire seconds trying to reboot my thought process.

"I, uh, I mean I'm not complaining but, er, why?"

Oh God WHY am I arguing against this?! Stupid brain making me say stupid things!

Thankfully she playfully replies, "You're not going to make a young, defenseless woman such as myself spend the night alone are you?"

I grin as I remember said 'defenseless' girl cutting apart Indigens with ease with naught but a Knife. Thankfully I don't say anything else completely retarded and say, "Of course not, how thoughtless of me. _Mi casa es tu casa_."

* * *

I let out a satisfied breath as I lean back in one of the balcony chairs and feel myself automatically relax as I look up at the sky, consumed as it is by one of the Miran auroras. I never really knew just how peaceful it could be after a day of partying to come back to a place you call home. Well hey. Live and learn.

"You never seem to grow tired of looking at the sky, do you?"

I don't bother looking back as Celica drapes her arms around my shoulders and rests her head atop of mine. The familiar scent of lavender and vanilla floods my head and I heave a satisfied sigh.

"It's hard to grow used to this view. I'm willing to bet I could stare at this for the rest of my life and never grow bored of it."

"One more thing we agree on then."

Now actually craning my neck to face hers as she looks down on me I can't help but throw in an honest compliment.

"It's a distant second to you though."

She quietly chuckles and places a kiss on my nose.

"Ever the flatterer aren't you?"

"I tell it like I see it."

She grins but loses some of her mirth and suddenly she shifts a little shyly.

"Cross, do you remember our first mission with Julun and Vi to Noctilum, when we were discussing music?"

"Yah, why?"

Instead of answering she briefly goes inside for a minute before walking out carrying a small duffel bag of some sort. Sitting next to me she pulls, to my complete astonishment, a Pan Flute of all things out of the bag. I feel my eyes widen and I breathe out, "Where'd you find _that?_ "

She shrugs sneakily and slyly replies, "Oh you'd be surprised at what the Nopon can make when given specific details and sufficient monetary incitement."

I give a disbelieving shake of my head. That couldn't have been cheap. The Nopon are real sticklers when it comes to custom orders.

"I recall you asking to hear me perform once I found one…are you still interested?"

I blurt out, "Hell yes! I mean, I was supposed to find you one, so, uh…sorry I didn't find one for you earlier."

She shakes her head amusedly and simply says, "You can make it up to me later."

Bringing the instrument to her lips she takes a moment to compose herself-no pun intended-before beginning.

As soon as the first peaceful notes sound throughout the air I'm struck by an overwhelming sense of… _familiarity_. Where have I heard this before? It feels like a lifetime ago…

* * *

…A lifetime where Mom and Dad were showing us the parade in Agua Caliente, the crowd of foreigners and natives mixing and partaking in the revelry…and the flute…that damned flute, sounding so beautiful…and my sister, _mi hermana_ , showing her little brother, her _pequeña ardilla_ , around the town…

It's like the smallest of cracks in a dam began to form, as a small drip feed of memories leaks into my head, before the wall is sealed again. But now I _know_. I _remember_. I _had_ a past beyond being some unknown strangers lab experiment, I had a _family_. I have no idea how I ended up in their clutches, and I might never find out…but it's enough. Enough to know that I once had something beyond being a soldier.

Something that I'll one day get to experience again.

* * *

I hear someone speaking to me in an increasingly worried tone of voice and with some reluctance I tear myself from my stupor and try to focus on what's being said. I'm treated to a strangely blurry image of Celica with what I'm assuming is a look of concern on her face.

"Cross, what's wrong? You suddenly just spaced out and started, well…crying."

I bring my hand up to my eyes and sure enough it comes away wet. The first tears I've ever shed on this planet. I'm such a mess of emotions and newly found memories that I'm not sure whether to break out into hysterical laughter or break down in a sobbing heap.

Unfortunately my slightly unstable mood makes itself known as I let loose a noise that's halfway between a bleat of amusement and strangled sob. Which of course then causes Celica to suddenly start stammering, "I-I'm sorry, was it something to do with the music?! I didn't know it meant so much to you I-"

I cut her off as I pull her into a fierce hug and let one last tear leak out before I whisper, "It meant everything to me. Thank you, just… _thank you._ "

* * *

It's a few more minutes before I get ahold of myself and calm down. It's only once I take a shaky breath that I realize I'm squeezing Celica in what is almost certainly an uncomfortably strong grip. Hastily loosening my hold I murmur embarrassedly, "Sorry. I uh…kinda lost myself there."

She stretches her back and I hear the pop of several vertebrae and mentally kick myself, although she doesn't seem to particularly care as she asks, "What was that about? Are you sure you're all right? I've never seen you lose your composure to that extent."

I can only smile.

"I'm…better than before. Better than I've ever felt really. That song must have jogged a few memories."

I see a sudden look of excitement on her face and she quickly asks, "It did? What did you remember?"

So I tell her. Afterwards she seems to be in a state of shock as she processes this.

"If you actually have memories of life before your induction into that sick program…wouldn't that imply that we don't know everything about it? I was under the impression that you were, well, grown."

"So was I. And apparently so was everyone else. Then again Eleanora never said that she knew everything about the program, only what she was told. Heck, apparently she wasn't even told the name."

Celica hums quietly as she nestles her head into the crook of my neck as I absently stroke her hair. We're both quiet for awhile before she suddenly shakes her head and asks, "So are you going to tell anyone about this? They'd likely be interested in knowing."

I think about it for a second but then shrug.

"I dunno. This feels…private. Like something only I should know."

I feel a smirk manifest itself on my face.

"Well, only myself and you of course."

"You know how to make a girl feel special."

"I give credit where credit is due. And by the way, that music piece was _incredible_."

She gives me an odd look and just like that some invisible line is crossed and we both hungrily move in for a kiss.

And not just any kiss, a full on, tongue-on-tongue wrestling match to the death. Winner take all.

While exploring each other's tonsils is great fun and all, it's our hands that go on the true adventure. One of her arms savagely grabs the back of my head and mashes our faces together, while the other is currently exploring under my shirt, possessively tracing my chest and abdominals. Turnabout is fair play however, and my hands are doing some pilgriming of their own. One palm leapt to her small but _fantastically_ firm breast, slowly massaging it through her dress and bra and even through the fabric I can feel a bullet hard nipple. My other extremity immediately seeks out her rear, remembering the delightful sensation I'd briefly felt earlier today.

It's just as good the second time around.

After maybe a few seconds of frantic making out and groping (or maybe it was a few minutes, it's not like I'm counting) our nostrils aren't providing enough air to fuel our… _energetic_ …activities. Breaking apart with a grasp we gaze into each other's eyes and I see something primal and bestial appear in her beautifully azul orbs. I swear her pupils actually dilated a bit, and her breathing becomes less like panting and more like predatory wheezes. This slight change is accompanied by a _very_ strong grip applied through her hands directly to my body, as well as an almost imperceptible licking of her lips.

I was already rock-hard before, but this little change graduates me from strongly erect, to drop-forged steel levels of excitement.

Practically purring I whisper, "Unless we both prefer to be known as exhibitionists, we should probably take this inside."

She get's right in my face and the raw _feeling_ in her voice sends a shiver down my spine.

"Less talking, more walking."

Don't have to tell me twice. With what feels like exactly zero effort I go from sitting to standing with her legs wrapping around my waist. Quickly walking through the veranda door and kicking it shut behind me I casually throw her onto the bed and she kicks off her underwear. Not wasting anytime I immediately crouch and dive into her crotch, eliciting a surprised gasp of arousal and surprise.

Now while this is certainly my first time actually doing the whole sex thing, I may have, uh, _researched_ this particular topic in some of my spare time. No partner of mine is gonna be stuck with a lousy boyfriend if I can help it. And let's be honest here. Hanging out with Frye, Yelv and Doug while they get plastered, you kinda just hear about certain things, whether you want to or not.

Regardless, if the throaty moans coming from Celica's throat are any indication, I'm doing _something_ right. As a matter of fact her hips are twitching and bucking as she continues to be pleasured.

A smug grin plastering itself on my face I lock her lower region in my arms, my arms resting possessively over navel and hands gently caressing her vulva. Robbed of her ability to move her moans start to transform into throaty cries and gasps as I start to gently drag my tongue over her inner lips while my fingers gently massage and rub her clit.

Practically feeling her body quiver as she start to builds toward an orgasm I suddenly twist my tongue in a burst of speed and pull on the little bundle of nerves, eliciting a passionate cry from her as a small burst of liquid sprays onto my face. Slowly licking my lips as I release her I feel a predatory grin cross my face…which is immediately knocked away as she suddenly springs off of the bed and tackles me to the floor, a solicitous smile on her still red and panting face.

"My turn…"

Her voice is naught but a purr and _hoo boy_ I don't think there's an elastic waistband out there that could fully contain me now.

Hastily chucking my undergarments aside she gently grabs my freed shaft and slowly, ever so slowly, sucks me into her mouth. I suppose it's not very manly of me that I let loose a few moans of my own but holy _crap this feels amazing_. I can see why Celica was so excited when I was going down on her.

Unfortunately being something of a cherry boy I feel an orgasm start to rise barely twenty seconds after the start of the blowjob. Feeling the burst of pressure in my loins I instinctively grab Celica's head and force her down on my cock, shoving my shaft as far down her throat as I can. Feeling the wave of pleasure spasm through my body I release my hold on her and she flicks her head up with a _pop_ noise and licks her lips, much in the same manner as I did.

At this point Mr. Refractory Period would be making his unpleasant presence be known, necessitating a quick break in the lovemaking. Thankfully whoever designed these MIMs didn't see the point in adding such a ridiculous feature since MIMs can't conceive anyway. Thank you anonymous designer.

Thank you.

So instead of a few minutes, within a few seconds I'm flying at full mast once again. Seeing my arousal Celica gains that carnivorous expression again and quickly throws away her dress and bra, letting me drink in her amazing body as she straddles me. I know some guys prefer their girls to be lithe and tight, but not have too much in the way of muscle definition. And plenty of other dudes like a slightly more filled out woman.

Celica is none of that. She takes her duty as a BLADE very seriously, and has been training and working out constantly, even more so after joining my squad. As a result she's gained some very pronounced musculature, but it's not unseemly or distracting, at least not to me.

From the sculpted lines of her arms and abs, to the powerful yet still slim legs…I think the best description would be, 'unfairly erotic'. Letting my hands gently wander over her skin, slowly and sensually caressing it she shivers in delight before positioning herself over my shaft and gently guiding it right below her slit. Momentarily losing her animalistic attitude she almost shyly says, "Cross I'm…actually a virgin, so…"

I nod and reply, "Me too. Take your time and tell me what to do."

Giving a brief nod of thanks before her face and eyes slowly turn back to their primal state and she suddenly spears herself onto my length, eliciting a sharp gasp from her and a guttural noise from me at the sudden burst of bliss and heat that envelops my rod. After a second of simply marveling at the sheer sensitivity I feel right now I look at Celica and immediately feel a blast of self-loathing, especially as a few trails of warm crimson liquid drip down my length.

Here I am enjoying myself no problem while she's clearly in pain, way to be a considerate boyfriend jackass.

Slowly grasping her hands with my own I ask worriedly, "Are you all right?"

She slowly breathes out and then smiles, gently easing her body lower until her hips are resting on my groin.

"Much better now. Could I ask you to hold still for a minute? I'm…getting used to this."

"Whatever you need."

For the next minute she gently raises and lowers herself, occasionally twisting her hips around in a small circular motion, quietly moaning overtime she does so. For my part I manage to do as she asked and keep still, letting her do her thing. It's hard though, since every instinct I have is screaming to just tackle her to the ground and pound away, consequences be damned. Which would be a rather un-gentlemanly thing to do, so I tell my instincts to take a hike and just enjoy the experience.

Suddenly stopping her movements she glances at me and a hungry smile appears on her face. Slowly leaning forward she whispers provocatively into my ear, "You've been a good boy, now go wild."

I never would have pegged self-sacrificing, humble and personable Celica to be a bit of a wild thing in the bedroom…but hey, I'm sure as Hell not complaining.

Not needing any more motivation I start thrusting in time with her, our hands still connected as we both move in an intimate dance. There's something extremely primordial and intoxicating about sex. The simple _awareness_ of your body being connected to your partner's in such an intimate way, the indescribable heat and thrill that these movements produce…and that's just the physical aspect of it.

Me and Celica, as I've put it before, are strangers in a strange land. Perhaps not in the sense most people would attribute to the word 'stranger', but it fits nonetheless. And while our loneliness may stem from different causes, the simple fact is that we can _understand_ each other's isolation, we can empathize with it. While our lovemaking is certainly a fantastic physical comfort, far more importantly it's just one more way we can show the other that they're not as isolated as they think they are.

That they're no longer alone.

Which is why there's no dramatic exclamation of each other's names once we climax together, just a fierce kiss as we both shudder in the throes of our orgasm. Pulling away as we both heavily pant, I feel myself slowly fill up her insides as I grow back to full size, and am _very_ pleased when she shoots me a challenging look and says, "Bet I can outlast you tonight."

Growling in my throat I suddenly sit up and knock her onto her back, using one of my arms to pin both of hers above her while the other starts gently teasing her nipple, while positioning my length right in front of her dripping lips. I lean in and gently whisper into her ear, "That sounds suspiciously like a bet."

Not giving her a chance to reply I suddenly bite down on the appendage and push into her walls, eliciting a cry of pleasure.

Thus ensured our first night of fervent ecstasy, although I'm quite happy to report that it won't be the last.

* * *

Some indeterminate length of time later, of which I only have vague memories, we both admitted to a draw. The only concrete memory I have is that after the _ninth_ time we fell asleep in each other's arms.

I didn't have a single nightmare.

* * *

Waking up the next morning was a unique experience. Normally once I'm awake, I'm awake. Right now though? Both my body and my mind feel only slightly more sluggish than a snail covered in peanut butter, and there's something so unfathomably warm and comfortable draped over me right now…I think I'll just go back to sleep…not to mention there's a lavender and vanilla scent in the room that's making my already limited reasons to wake up walk off in…

…oh right. Last night.

Prying open my eyelids and taking a deep breath I see a most welcoming sight curled up on my chest. Celica's steady breathing suddenly shifts as she also begins to wake up and her eyes slowly crack open. Yawning she stretches her upper body like a cat and I'm treated to an eyeful of fantastic stomach and boobs.

Probably gonna need a cold shower after this.

"Good morning beautiful."

"And good morning to you handsome."

She smiles and moves to roll over but suddenly winces and her hand shoots towards her lower half. I immediately feel myself go red in the face and awkwardly say, "Sorry, I might have gone a bit overboard. I won't do anything that uh, _intense_ in the future."

She snorts and merely replies, "Soreness means a muscle is merely going to grow back stronger."

She then leans forward and playfully whispers in my ear, "You'll help me train said muscle, right?"

Oh yah, _definitely_ gonna need that cold shower.

* * *

Thankfully about half an hour later the two of us are properly dressed downstairs while I throw together a quick breakfast of omelets and Blatta juice (Which doesn't taste anywhere near as disgusting as it sounds) while Celica tabs through the days events.

"MMA cross species competition? Sounds like something you'll have to keep an eye on Cross."

I flip the eggs over with a spatula and sigh as I do so.

"Why I volunteered to patrol during that event I'll never know. Some days I wonder if Mia was right and I _do_ have a bit of a masochistic bone in me."

I hear her snickering and amusedly say, "Well you _did_ seem to enjoy some of my more… _aggressive_ actions last night. Pervert."

I playfully scowl and growl back, "Well when you're being chewed on by some sharp-toothed predator that has you at it's mercy, you take what you can get."

"The look on your face suggested otherwise."

I sigh and realize I'm not going to win this particular argument. During one of the later 'rounds' she had suddenly bit my neck and shoulder before raking her fingernails across my back as she went into a blazing orgasm. The sudden pain had surprised me, but instead of being a turn off I had actually, well, got a little overly excited myself before orgasming.

Yah…pretty sure I'm into the harsh a little. And ain't that a fun thing to learn about yourself?

"Ok ok you win. Here's your breakfast miss Psycho-analyst."

"Much appreciated."

She sends me such a sweet smile that I feel my exasperation dry up and disappear. Uh oh. I hope she doesn't use that too often, or I won't be able to say no to anything.

"So what's your plan for today while I'm off babysitting the city?"

"Mia, Hope and I were going to visit some of the boutiques and confectionaries that are just opening up under Xeno ownership. For most of them it's their grand opening and they want to make quite the impression."

"Lucky. Wish I could do that. Ah well whatever. Enjoy your time with those two, Lord knows you of all people earned it."

Finishing up the food she cleans off the plate and gives me a drawn out kiss before winking and saying with a sultry tone of voice, "See you later big guy."

I think there's a lot of truth about it being the nice, quiet ones you have to watch out for.

* * *

"Holy Hell man, did you get mauled by a Caro or something?!"

"Morning Frye. And in a manner of speaking yes, I did get attacked by something very animalistic."

The two of us are in the temporary armory right now getting changed into our security gear, and I guess he caught a glimpse of my bare back as I was getting my armor prepped.

"What was there an animal circus or something you were a part of-"

His eyes widen as he sees the hickeys on my neck and shoulder and a massive grin spreads across his face.

"Oh I see. So Celica's a bit of a wild thing in bed, is that it?"

"She's certainly enthusiastic. I guess you were right in saying the quiet ones are the kinky ones."

"Damn right I'm right! I spent more than a decade having all sorts of wild relationships. Trust me when I say I know a thing or two."

I snort and reply, "Well if I ever need advice on one-night stands I'll come to you first Frye."

He scowls and goes back to his equipment, checking everything with his usual thoroughness. We continue with setting up our gear in companionable silence until he quietly asks, "I heard about your mandatory stand-down order from Doug and why it was given. How you holding up Kid?"

Frye is only serious once in a blue moon so I try to answer in an equally serious manner.

"At first I didn't handle it very well, I felt like I was being kicked aside because I had failed, that I wasn't good enough to keep being on the front lines. Stupid, I know. But now? I dunno…I feel like I gained some perspective on my life, that maybe there's something more I have to offer beyond just being a top BLADE. Which reminds me, I'll have to thank Miss Curtison one of these days."

Frye smiles as we finish putting on our gear and gently says, "I'm glad to hear that Kid, I had some buddies back on Earth who never really got over some of the stuff they had to do and ended up committing some pretty bad crimes, both to themselves and occasionally other people. When I heard about your past and all that…well I was extra worried, suffice to say. Guess I shouldn't have bothered though eh?"

I finally smile before slipping on my helmet and reply, "Well I haven't gone all Mr. Kurtz _yet_. Probably because I had such knowledgeable people like yourself to keep me on an even keel."

"Aw now your just brown nosing."

"We can play, 'guess what Frye had for breakfast'."

"Gross."

He grins before clasping my shoulder pauldron…then shoots a scowl up at me, since the armor gives me a little bit extra height.

"Has anyone ever told you just how damn intimidating that suit is?"

"It friggin better be, I spent a lot of money on this."

* * *

And in what seems like an eye blink U-Day passes by in a storm of revelry and excitement, while I only had to get physical once, oddly enough with two Ma-non.

Alcohol and arguments over Pizza toppings don't mix well with the little guys, to the surprise of absolutely no one.

Regardless the celebration itself was a resounding success, even if the cleanup took like four days. Not that the Zaruboggan were complaining much. They probably had more fun during the cleanup than they did during the party, what with all the trash lying everywhere.

After during the entire process I never once had interrupted sleep. Either my nightmares are gone or I've finally gotten used to them and just don't notice anymore. Not that I care either way. It's the results that matter.

After that it's a little more than two weeks before I can get back to active duty missions. While I'm happy that I'm not stuck on the sidelines anymore, it's also mixed in with some slight anxiety and melancholy, almost as if I'm _sad_ that my 'vacation' is coming to a close.

I guess that means I'm becoming more like a mentally sound person. Well, mostly mentally sound.

Of course, it was then that the NLA leadership decided to drop a bombshell on me that vastlychanged all of Humanity's objectives on Mira, and gave rise to some _very_ uncomfortable questions about the nature of the planet we now call home.

* * *

"Ah, good to see you again Cross. How have you been as of late?"

"Doing just fine Director-General. I never knew vacation would be treating me so well."

"Yes well, Miss Curtison made it rather clear to us that we should…consider such a course of action."

"Say no more, she terrifies me as well."

Glancing around the room I see that the big four are in attendance, but surprisingly H.B. and Elma are also present. Must be something reallybig and really secret they need done.

"So I take it this isn't just a social call?"

Nagi shakes his head and steadily replies, "Unfortunately not, in fact what we're about to tell you must _never_ leave this room without our express permission to speak of it. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well then. You're familiar with the current state of the Lifehold correct?"

"Yah, the repairs were put on hold while we had to deal with the Ganglion, but they should be done in a couple weeks or a month at most right?…That's not what's really happening, is it?"

Nagi sighs and says, "Indeed not. Elma?"

"A few days after the Lifehold battle me and a few other Reclaimers finally opened up a path to the consciousness banks to check on their functionality."

She inhales a shaky breath and looks more serious and confused than I've ever seen her before.

"All of the banks and backups were utterly destroyed, the entire chamber was flooded and not a single piece of equipment was functional."

I'm struck dumb for a second before sputtering, "Whoah whoah whoah, hold up a second! You said they were _destroyed_? How the Hell are we even up and moving like nothing's wrong then?!"

"If we knew, we'd be working on a solution. As it is, we're utterly stumped as of now. We have no leads or even clues to follow up on. For all we know this may as well be magic."

I scowl something fierce as the sudden gravity of this situation hits home. If the banks are destroyed, that means all two million people in there (not that I'll shed too many tears over a bunch of strangers I probably wouldn't even have liked) are effectively dead. More importantly, all the BLADEs and civilians living in NLA that have died during our colonization of Mira aren't just waiting for us to come and pull them out of the Lifehold, they're gone and aren't coming back. Lao, Milly, Wolf, Walter…they're dead and I never gave them a proper sendoff.

Sitting back as the enormity of this almost overwhelms me I take a deep breath and run through one of my calming exercises. No point in losing my shit until I'm absolutely certain it's time to panic.

Getting my act together I glance at everyone else in the room and ask, "Well my first question is, why exactly are you telling _me_ of all people? Wouldn't it make more sense to get someone actually knowledgeable about this subject on board?"

Vandham speaks up and growls out, "Who exactly would be knowledgeable about this that we can actually trust? And we're gonna have to break this to the whole city sooner rather than later, at which point we're probably gonna be facing a full blown panic. The more people we can rely on to keep their cool once this breaks just makes our job easier."

I shake my head, not completely satisfied with that line of reasoning.

"If it's just people you need to keep a secret for awhile and keep their heads straight once shit hits the fan, I can think of a dozen names off the top of my head. Professor B and Veven come to mind, heck they'd probably thank you for letting them study something like this. Then we have Sun'Barac, getting the president of the Xeno factions on our side will make all our lives easier. As for the military side we already have Elma, but why not Doug, Bozé and Corwin? They're both popular among other BLADEs and the civilians. And while I don't like forcing Hope to keep a secret, she and Ackwar are pretty well known Mediators, having them forewarned should help keep a lot of scared people from flying off the handle too badly. Heck, I should have been last on your list!"

No sooner do I finish when I notice several amused looks around the room. Narrowing my eyes I say, "I've just been played, haven't I?"

H.B. offers a rare grin and says, "Indeed you have. Think Cross. You gave us plenty of reasons why there were others that might be more helpful than yourself. But we picked you first anyway. Care to guess why?"

"I don't actually."

He sighs.

"Remember when you ran into me near the Outfitters Hangar, and we talked at length about how you came to be who you are today?"

"Vaguely."

"Well I remember quite well. I remember you attributing most of your personal qualities due to Miss Elma's tutelage and instruction. While I mean no offense to her personally, I disagreed and insisted that much of your leadership and people skills were due to your own hard work and personality. Which is why I personally recommended you to everyone else here, you provide a very valuable insight into who we can and cannot trust with this. If anyone can inspire loyalty amongst people, then it's you."

I'm struck dumb by H.B.'s totally uncharacteristic positivity, and have to spend a few seconds unscrambling my brain.

"Uh…wow, then. Thanks H.B., I don't really have anything else to add."

He has a smug look on his face and replies, "I figured you wouldn't."

Eleanora clears her throat suddenly with a slightly bemused look on her face.

"While very heart-warming, can we move on to the more practical aspects of this meeting?"

I raise an eyebrow.

"Practical?"

"Yes, while we have no idea what is actually occurring with the Lifehold and our consciousness, we have been trying to come up with theories that might spark off a course of action. We're interested in hearing any idea you might have before we tell you our own."

I look down and spend a few minutes in thought, considering the limited information I have and trying to think of a plausible explanation. Sighing I eventually speak up and tiredly say, "Ok, I see two potential answers here. One is very, _very_ bad for us and the other is bizarre and opens up about fifty different cans full of worms, but at least has a silver lining to it. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Let's hear the bad theory first." H.B. says with a wry grin.

"Ok my first guess is that even though the system holding our minds is destroyed yet we're still functioning, the soul, consciousness, personality or whatever you want to call it must have somehow been transferred to our individual MIMs. This sucks for three big reasons. First, that means that anytime a MIM is destroyed or damaged beyond repair, that person is effectively dead permanently. Second, since MIMs can't reproduce, we effectively have a finite supply of Humans that won't grow any larger. Third, since all of the consciousnesses we thought would be safe in the Lifehold are now gone for good, any new bodies we grow in the Lifehold will essentially be newborns in older bodies, and have to be cared for just like any normal baby. All that talent and knowledge is dust in the wind."

I sit back and Nagi grimly nods.

"Most of us also came to a similar conclusion, although I am curious as to what your second idea is."

"It's a crazy one, so bear with me on it. First off, has anyone ever wondered why all of us, Human and Xeno alike, can understand each other so perfectly? I mean it's convenient and all, but once I start to wonder _why,_ I can't help but feel we're in over our heads. Then there's the whole deal with the Ma-non ship crashing on Mira in the first place. You've seen their tech, whatever caused them to lose control must have been a real piece of work. And I've talked to a few of them about the exact details of the crash, along with a few Humans when we crash landed as well. During each planetfall all the systems on the ship went berserk, and everyone felt a strange 'wave' sensation pass through their bodies. You guys were under attack by the Ghosts at the time, so no one really paid it much mind, but the Ma-non though it was strange."

I pause for a moment to catch my breath and then continue.

"We assumed that odd feeling was because of entering the phenomenon space right? Well…what if instead of that sensation being said space, it was some form of technology taking a scan of a living being, and recording it's consciousness?"

There's dead silence after I finish that line of thought for a few seconds. Then a couple more seconds after that. Vandham shakes his head and stammers, "Wait a minute kid, if that's true-"

"Then that means every single being that's died on Mira might very well still be 'alive'. This is the only other explanation I have, aside from magic unicorn farts, that _sort of_ explains why we can understand each other. Somewhere on Mira, or maybe it's moons, there's some kind of shared consciousness system that provides real-time translation from one mind to another, while our physical bodies, artificial or not, carry out the conversation."

I rub my eyes as I feel the sudden onset of fatigue.

"But _if_ i'm right, this is where the real paradigm shift starts rearing it's multi-faceted head. While it makes sense for our MIM's to be able to receive this consciousness, since that's what they were designed to do, how come our fully biological Xeno allies can do the same? That speaks to an extremely high level of tech, and we should check with B and see if he's ever run across something like that before. Then we arrive at the lovely question of _why_ our minds are being recorded like this in the first place. Add in the phenomenon space and you have to wonder if Mira was meant as some sort of prison, or perhaps a sanctuary? A prison for what or a sanctuary _from_ what?"

No one else looks all that happy at my musings. Well for that matter I'm not particularly enthused myself.

"The more immediate concern aside from all those big picture questions is this. Do the Ganglion know? If this theory is correct, then they might eventually find this theoretical consciousness repository and use it for their own ends. Which almost certainly won't bode well for us."

I give a wry grin and finish with, " _IF_ I'm right."

We're all silent for a moment until Chausson sighs and says, "You weren't joking about opening quite the number of canned worms Cross."

"Tell me about it. I don't like my theory very much, even though I'm the one that came up with it."

Vandham frowns and growls out, "I dunno, while it certainly raises a butt-load of questions we're gonna have to solve eventually, at least it means there's a chance all of our people might still be alive out there. I say we keep an open mind about this little idea."

Everyone nods and I ask, "So what's everyone else's ideas?"

They all share a glance and H.B. shrugs.

"We'll just go with yours."

I squint my eyes and dryly say, "You were all just waiting for me to come up with something, weren't you?"

A room full of amused looks is my only answer and Vandham smirks.

"Welcome to our first meeting kid."

Hook line and sinker.

* * *

Yet another two weeks go by and it's time for my initiation back into the folds of active duty BLADEs. We'd gone ahead and let all of my suggested people in on the current status of the Lifehold, to a variety of reactions ranging from shocked to depressed. Thankfully we're all on the same page now, so hopefully in a few weeks time when we have to face the music the city won't fly to pieces.

Hopefully.

Never mind that though, I'm finally back with my team!

"Was actually quite nice to have you off of team for awhile. Very relaxing and no crazy missions."

"Aw I missed you too Julun…Bitch."

I gently mutter that last part under my breath, although the amused look she gives me says that she heard it anyway.

"So what's gonna be our big reunion mission Chief? Take down a Tyrant? Wipe out a Ganglion outpost?"

"Something far more dangerous. We're going to scout out some of the islands west of Noctilum and see what we find. New Indigens, useful resources, all those Prospector and Curator shenanigans."

"Ugh what a buzzkill Chief."

Vi sadly shakes his head.

"I see too much time off the battlefield has made you soft Cross. And I had such high expectations…"

"I can't believe I was looking forward to working with you ingrates!"

Celica is trying and failing to hold in her laughter as she see's my purposefully lukewarm reception, as well as my obviously over the top indignation. It's like a well rehearsed play.

I sigh in mock despair and say, "Alright jerkwads armor up, we've got a schedule to keep and I want my first mission back to be a resounding success. Make me proud."

Dropping the disrespect for a minute they all happily nod and run off towards their machines. Celica stays for an extra second and smiles at me, saying, "They must have really missed you. Normally they would have been nicer."

"It's a weird dynamic this dysfunctional little squad of ours has."

Giving me a quick kiss on the lips she brightly quips, "I wouldn't have it any other way. See you in the sky."

"I'll be right behind you."

As she heads off to her own Skell I eagerly hop into my Lailah's crash seat and buckle in, powering her up and sighing in contentment as her reactor powers up.

I've been gone far too long. While I'll admit that it was pretty damn important, if not downright necessary, for me to get away from the front lines for awhile…I still feel like this is where I can do the most good for now. Not the _only_ good, just the most. Maybe one day that'll change…maybe it won't. Until then I'll stick to what I know best.

Smiling in probably the most relaxed contentment I've ever felt before a mission I hit the thrusters and take off, quickly falling into formation with the rest of my squad as we fly off in the direction of the slowly rising sun, leaving the city behind. It's still early in the morning after all.

"How about some music to set the mood team? I've had two months to create a killer playlist, so brace yourselves."

I key the music player on my console and hear the opening tunes of _U2_ 's _Beautiful Day_ begin to play.

"Man Chief, another relic of the olden days?"

"Quiet neophyte, you've clearly shown yourself to be unappreciative of the arts. Let the chorus play…"

The edge of the horizon suddenly blazes into a golden-white hue as the music perfectly swells with, " _It's a beautiful day! Sky falls, you feel like it's a beautiful day, don't let it get away!_ "

I grin and lean back in the seat. Looks to be a busy, if not beautiful, day.

 _Interim, End_

* * *

 **POST-SCRIPT(and other stuff)**

 **Hoo boy, I can't believe I finally went ahead and actually finished a story I had started writing. Are the stars and planets aligned or something? Actually this story isn't completely complete, there's still two small side bits I'll add at a later date, as well as an epilogue chapter of sorts (it's post game content after all). But the main thrust of Interim's story is done.**

 **Hmm…if I'm gonna wax poetic about how this whole (not so) epic saga of how I came to write this story, I might have to explain a little background detail.**

 **If you're not interested (and you have every right not to be, I ain't gonna judge) then just know that I think you're awesome for actually reading this clusterfuck of an amateur story (152, 870 words? Editors everywhere are crying themselves to sleep. Thank Christ this isn't a professional novel), and many thanks to you!**

 **For the people who care or just have time on their hands, when I say this is the first story I've written to completion, that's no exaggeration. I write for fun, not money or public recognition (public recognition is nice though. Praise me!)**

 **When I was in Elementary School I was a big reader, and by the time I was in Middle School I was reading some pretty heavy science fiction and fantasy books like _Lord of the Rings_ or _Starship Troopers_. While many of the ideas presented in those books went way over my head (I had bigger things to worry about, such as puberty and the fact that girls were simultaneously becoming both beautiful and terrifying), I'd like to think that these seemingly impenetrable novels laid the foundation for my love of both writing and fiction.**

 **By the time High School rolled around I was busy with both Choir, swimming, tests, trying to get laid, part-time work, tests and trying to get laid, so I largely stopped reading and haven't touched a book since.**

 **Pfft, yah right. The arrival of the Kindle E-reader made it so that in between all my other activities I could plop down and read for a few minutes no problem. Also having access to a massive, cheap collection of books only fueled my growing interest in all things writing.**

 **By my senior year of High School I decided I wanted to try and actually write a story of my own. Sitting down one day I just started to write with complete and utter abandon. And perhaps a week later I came to a realization. While I love the process of creating my stories, I often lack the motivation or drive to complete them.**

 **My process of writing a story often begins with an idea. Something I find fascinating and want to expound upon. The next step is creating the 'rules' of the story. What can or cannot be done? What technology or powers exist? What is the social structure of this universe?**

 **After that comes the broad story outline, basically the timeline and key events. These I rarely, if ever, change since it screws with the whole overall process.**

 **Next comes the smaller story details within the main events. These are far more fluid and I often switch them around as necessary, edit them or sometimes just abandon them entirely. Once all that is completed I actually get to the writing.**

 **And here is where I usually run out of steam. I have something like four or five other stories with anywhere from 30,000-50,000 words that I just stopped working on one day. Not necessarily because I got bored of them, but simply because I felt I had done what I wanted and it was time to move on.**

 ** _Xenoblade X: Interim_ was new ground for me since I told myself even though it was for fun, I really should try to finish at least _one_ story. Of course that's not how it worked, at least not initially. I wrote all the way up to ch. 4 and then got burnt out, and abandoned it for awhile. Then on a whim I decided to post the first chapter to this website just to see if anyone gave a crap. To my complete and utter surprise, it started picking up a few dozen views (about a few dozen more than I thought it would), and I even got notified that some readers wanted to follow the story as it was updated.**

 **Color me surprised. It was this, a few random strangers on the internet interested in my work that convinced me to get off my lazy ass and finish this.**

 **Hey, if so many people apparently want to read my drivel, I suppose I might as well oblige them. And so here we are.**

 **Wait, how did this tirade even start? Lemme scroll back up here…right! Finishing this story!**

 **…umm. So I did it. Go me. Yay.**

 **Friggin awkward text jokes aside, seriously, everyone who forced themselves this far, thank you. You the bomb.**

 **And obvious thanks to Monolithsoft for making a game that is just as much a celebration of how different cultures can come together as it is a grind for reward tickets. (Assuming any Monolith employee actually ended up here is wishful thinking at best, but hey. A guy can dream).**

 **And it anyone reading this actually feels like attempting to write their own book, novel, short story or whatever…well I'm not going to offer you my advice, because I don't want your future career to crash and burn before it even gets off of the ground. So let me leave you with a quote from a very smart man, and a very talented writer who's given me more than a little inspiration.**

 **"Don't write the book you want to write. Write the book you wish someone else would write."**

 **-Matthew Stover**

 **Extra post script: While I'm currently stepping away from my Xenoblade story to start a Campione! work that I've been frothing at the mouth to begin, I'll still be working on those three finishing chapters simultaneously. That said, I have a few ideas bouncing around my skull on how to wrap up Interim with a sequel. After all, that's the point of an Interim. Let me know if any of you are even passively interested in me doing so and I'll jot down some key points so I don't forget them in the future when I get around to it.**

 **As always, you guys rock!**


	11. Chapter 11: Eleanora Report

_Eleanora Report_

 **Project Exodus ID Number** : 00008453

 **ID Name** : Eleanora C. Antoinette

 **Date of Entry** : Miran calendar day 537

 **Subject** : BLADE Lieutenant Cross, ID Number XXXXXXXX

I am mostly writing this report for future record keeping and study, since as of now it holds very little meaning or weight in regards to it's subject.

Said subject is BLADE Lieutenant Cross, one of the supposed 'Super Soldiers' that was created by an unnamed initiative prior to Earth's destruction (For simplicities sake I will refer to the initiative as Project X).

The goal of Project X, as it was explained to me, was to use several forms of selective memory erasure, consciousness alteration, systematic brainwashing and several other personality alteration practices in order to create highly skilled and fanatically loyal warriors that would aid in Humanities's struggle to survive amongst the stars.

Cross was not one of these subjects. He was a washout, one of the defectives that was 'damaged' by the techniques employed by this organization. Despite this 'handicap', I appealed to Project X's leaders to allow him passage on board the _White Whale_ regardless. Any potential risk would almost certainly be outweighed by the gains. When it's the end of the world, we can't be afford to turn away such valuable weapons merely because of a slight risk.

There is much to talk about in regards to Cross. He has made an impact on our city of NLA, and on me as well. Dividing this report into distinct segments will make classification easier.

 **Physical Abilities:** Perhaps we should start with the more mundane, but necessary, list of what exactly these soldiers, even a defective one, are capable of.

While Cross has the natural strength and advantages of a MIM, there has obviously been some alterations made to his MIM that afford it several distinct advantages over more conventional ones.

Firstly, it is far more powerful than a standard MIM. Due to the artificial nature of MIMs they are unable to acquire more muscle mass, thus the strength of a MIM is necessitated by it's body type and weight. If Cross's MIM and Vandham's were to arm wrestle for instance, Vandham would win simple due to his greater mass. Instead Cross's MIM has proven superior to Vandham's, winning several strength competitions and clearly outperforming other MIMs in other feats of strength. It's my belief that these soldier's MIMs were altered by Project X, giving them these enhanced abilities. There was also a store of replacement limbs specifically set aside for these Soldiers in the _White Whale's_ cargo, clearly someone was planning ahead.

Aside from their strength, these MIMs are also far more durable than the standard models, being able to take a direct hit from a Qmoeva Skell-class energy weapon and merely lose an arm, as opposed to the entire side of the body that was struck. I've recommended to the other leaders of NLA that we study these MIM's spare parts and try to adapt it's alterations to our own bodies.

As for my second point we come to the real threat this warrior poses, his martial and mental skills.

If there is a martial art of some sort that Cross is not versed in at this point I am not aware of it. From Eastern martial arts such as _Kung Fu_ , all the way to Western styles such as _Baroque_ sword fighting. He also employs some unheard of styles as well, such as the one he labels _Weiji Do_ (Way of Manifestation). He has also taken astonishingly quick to several Xeno's styles of fighting as well, despite the differences in physiology.

Initially his weapon skill set was rather limited, likely something to do with him being washed out of Project X. In recent months however he has undertaken strict training, rapidly becoming nothing short of a master in nearly every known weapon in the city. From knives to sniper rifles, swords to assault rifles, Spears to Rayguns…the list is quite extensive.

What makes all this knowledge particularly lethal however is his mental fortitude and strength. His reaction time was clocked at an unheard of 0.013 seconds, almost ten times faster than the fastest recorded Human speed to date, allowing him to react to a move almost as soon as he sees it. He also has incredible mental composure and stamina, during a BLADE stress test he spent an ungodly 8 _hours_ in combat conditions, fighting every few minutes before his performance started to degrade. Utterly insane. Not to mention his reading speed, which clocks in at around 3500 words per minute, allowing him to read through quite a bit of old Earth literature in record time.

These mental skills also allow him to forego large amounts of sleep, as a few minutes of meditation leave him refreshed and able to perform other duties. He is also very hard to, 'keep down', as the saying goes. Despite learning of both his heritage and it's more unpleasant facets, as well as his status as a reject, he was able to recover from these revelations within weeks, if not days, of learning them. Had I known he was this resilient, I would not have so vehemently opposed letting him learn of this information.

 **Personality:** What most people don't seem to consider is the specifics of how Cross gained his personality, and this is a _very_ important insight into how he works.

Put bluntly, the person we know as Cross isn't necessarily an individual. Rather he is an amalgamation of all the people he has met and come to care about.

Perhaps an explanation for this statement is in order.

When Cross first came to NLA, he was a blank slate. Whatever memory modifications Project X gave to it's subjects likely didn't take well to Cross, as he only had basic language skills, his knowledge of combat, and likely a very vague want to help 'Humanity' as his base state.

What others fail to realize is just how observant and confused this mind was. With almost no means of making sense of it's environment, I hypothesize Cross's mind and brain were working overtime to create a sense of self, and used the surrounding environment to help in that construction. Naturally, the sources used were those he interacted with continuously.

The two major contributors to the person we call Cross were Colonel Elma (Exodus ID: 00000591) and Lin Lee Koo (Exodus ID: 00010053), BLADE operatives who were his initial team. From Elma he learned loyalty to a higher cause as well as the importance of leadership, while from Miss Koo he began to showcase humor and enthusiasm, as well as more advanced sarcasm. These two formed the core of his personality, although many others contributed as well.

From Phog Christoph (Exodus ID: 00946571), Hope Alanzi (Exodus ID: 03461322) and the Ma-non Ackwar (BLADE ID: 2075) he began to show signs of humility and unconditional compassion, and was shown to empathize with others more.

From Hector Birtwhistle (Exodus ID: 00133890), Frye Christoph (Exodus ID: 00813456), Bozé Lowes (Exodus ID: 00054672) and Doug Barrett (Exodus ID: 00076451) he started to display confidence and pride in his skills, as well as H.B.'s ideas on the concept of meritocracy. From Bozé he also began to show curiosity in teaching others.

The list goes on, including such people as Yelv Jameson (Exodus ID: XXXXXXXX), Irina Akulov (Exodus ID: 00020986), Gwin Evans (Exodus ID: 00734716), Alexa Reyes (Exodus ID: 00351900), Sharon Effinger (Exodus ID: 00176351) and others. But to delve into the minute changes they made in his overall personality would go beyond the scope of this report (See additional file attached to this one for more technical data and explanations).

There was one other person that made a significant impact on Cross's personality, Lao Huang (Exodus ID: 00071342). Lao and Cross were good friends, up until Lao's betrayal. What Cross took away from this betrayal, as well as the revelation of the composition of the Lifehold's passengers, was the idea of both revenge and forgiveness. From what I personally saw before he and his team went to confront Lao, he was fully prepared to kill the traitor. Once they returned to the city however, with the mission a success, he was merely bitter and distracted.

I feel we were very, _very_ lucky that Lao spilled the details of his history with Project Exodus, garnering the sympathy and understanding of Cross. Had he merely killed Lao, he likely would have considered death a fitting punishment for a betrayal of trust, and we would have had a very different person defending our city. Thankfully the lesson he took away from that disaster was that understanding and comprehending someone's actions is a far better alternative than merely doling out 'justice' as the situation sees fit.

It's because of that event that he has staunchly supported myself, Chausson, Nagi and Vandham despite the several secrets we have kept from him, and to this day continues to stay on good terms with all of us.

After a certain point Cross seems to have stopped absorbing facets of other people's personality, his own 'self' stabilizing and becoming 'unique'.

 **Conclusion:** For a supposed reject of Project X, Cross has quite the impressive service record and list of talents. I consider it no small exaggeration to say he was _instrumental_ in keeping NLA safe in the hectic first year of our stay on Mira. I am even more proud to say that he is a…friend of sorts.

My only regret is that if this is a supposed washout, I can only imagine what one of the 'true' soldiers would be like, and will likely never find out due to their presumed KIA status.

(End Report)

* * *

 **It wasn't until I was writing this that I realized a fair number of characters were only given a first name and nothing else. Which is fine for the game but would have looked kinda weird in this scenario. So I just went ahead and thought of a few random names for the characters, I quite honestly didn't put much thought into it (more than the games writers did though, ZING!).**


	12. Chapter 12: Overlord Compendium

BLADE Overlord Compendium, Version: 1.0

Tyrant: A classification used to denote native Miran fauna (or unique Ganglion assets) that display strength or abilities far beyond their more standard counterparts. Tyrants should be approached with the utmost caution and preparation, and should ideally be confronted by numerous BLADE teams working together.

Overlords: A new term used to identify Tyrants of exceptional note, creatures that as of this stage BLADE has no easy means of defeating, provided that such a feat is even possible. What follows is a first-hand report of observed Overlords and ideas on how to handle these beings, written by top BLADEs.

 _Report Start_

Go-rha, the Guardian Deity

Genus: Xe-dom

Location: Noctilum, Yagami's Vista

Report Author: Cross, BLADE ID 2089

Ok so I was suddenly approached (accosted) by the Big Four to write this report about some of the more terrifying stuff on this wacko planet, so that's what I'm gonna do.

Just in case you haven't realized, this report is gonna be pretty relaxed in it's language, so get used to it.

Ok so Go-rha, eh? Well here's my advice.

Don't mess with it, and don't get within 79 meters of it. There you go, happy travels fellow BLADE or particularly ballsy civilian!

…I'm being told that's not enough information for this report. Ok ok fine.

Alright so Go-rha's call to fame and fortune is in it's bizarre energy field. Most Xe-doms have a similar field they can surround themselves in, either using gravity or magnetic repulsion to either propels themselves or deflect incoming fire.

Go-rha takes that a few steps further.

During my team's exploration of Noctilum we ran across this thing and it being one of the first Xe-dom NLA had ever encountered, we naturally tried to get close to it. Bad idea.

Any being that get's within 79 meters of this thing must trigger some sort of pre-programmed response, because it will then chase said trespasser to a maximum of 500 meters before returning to it's previous state. We discovered that charming fact the hard way and if it wasn't for a Skell we had handy we would be dust in the wind at this point.

But that _field_ man. Once we had learned of the machines aggressiveness we gathered a few Skells and decided to test it's limits.

Spoiler alert: It didn't go well.

Go-rha is surrounded by some sort of field that reflects _all_ forms of potentially harmful munitions back at it's shooter. Physical, energy-based, Ether based, even gravity weaponry is tossed back with seemingly zero effort (don't ask how it pulls off that trick with gravity based weaponry, because Hell if I know).

What's worse is that it doesn't merely throw back the incoming fire in a straight line, the bloody thing can actually send back attacks in a _predictive_ manner a well. So strafing is a worthless tactic.

It's also not as easy as simply altering the speed of the projectiles or their size. It must have some sort of advanced sensor array because it can judge a weapon's threat level based on velocity or energy carried and respond accordingly.

There's some thought being given to the idea of simply overloading the field, such as dragging a massive boulder over it's resting place and then dropping it, but for now I think the phrase, 'let sleeping dogs lie', is a good rule to follow.

* * *

Barnabas, The Despot

Genus: Vigent

Location: Oblivia, Aaroy Plains

Report Author: Frye Christoph, BLADE ID 1009

My first bit of advice for avoiding Barnabas? Don't travel with the reclaimer Yelv. The guy's great to have in a fight and all, but he has an annoying tendency to also start them as well (and that's coming from me!). I say this because he first spotted this thing during the first weeks of exploring Oblivia and got it into his mind to shoot it with the cars rail-cannon.

All it did was piss the thing off and cause it to chase us for almost twenty minutes straight.

Alright actual details about the thing…well it's strong. Like really, _really_ strong. Strong enough that it can be considered an Overlord based merely on it's physical strength.

First off, it's limb strength. When I said it chased us for almost twenty minutes it didn't stop because it got bored or tired, it was because another Vigent caught it's attention. All the extra commotion must have caught the others fancy. Long story short, Barnabas ripped the other one apart.

Literally.

While Barnabas is only a eighth again as large as your typical Vigent, don't let that fool you. With seemingly no effort it tore the arms off of the opposing Vigent and with a single hit crushed it's head into mush (and those things have pretty damn thick frontal skull plates, lemme tell yah).

It must have some sort of mutation in it's body structure that affords it that crazy strength, because there's no outward difference it shows between other Vigents.

It's also tough as Hell, since the rail-cannon didn't even dent it while other Skell class weaponry has been proven to accomplish absolutely nothing except make it mad.

Speaking of mad this thing takes it's territory _very_ seriously. If it sees or hears you, it _will_ attack. Don't make the mistake of thinking you're too small and puny for it to feel threatened by, it'll hunt you down no matter how innocent you are.

It's not all doom and gloom though, Barnabas does have quite a few weak points. Number one being that it's clumsy as Hell, just like all Vigents. There's documented videos of Barnabas just running along the desert and tripping over itself for no reason, as well as it getting it's limbs stuck in sinkholes for minutes at a time.

Potential strategies for eventually killing this thing might include some sort of giant murder hole that we can trap it in, or since it relies specifically on physical abilities we can exploit it's tendency to chase things and tire it out that way. In the meantime though I advise you leave it be and keep a close eye on FrontierNav when traveling through the Aaroy Plains.

And don't partner with Yelv. I can't stress that bit enough.

* * *

Atreides the Distinguished, Gesserith the Wileworm

Genus: Sabula

Location: Sylvalum, South Silent Sandsea

Report Author: Corwin Donahue, BLADE ID 0497

When we first discovered this pair of monsters I practically crapped myself. Sabulas were already proving to be a nightmare to deal with, since they're damn near impossible to detect until bursting out of the sand swallowing you whole. With FrontierNav being as advanced as it is now we don't have to worry as much about that, but back then we had our hands full.

So imagine my surprise when Atreides burst out of the ground like some kind of Sand Leviathan and proceeded to eat our teams Skell whole. I've seen some freaky shit, both on Earth and on Mira, but seeing a worm the size of the Bank of America Tower (when it was still around) pop out of the ground and leap through the air while digesting one of my team members is definitely on the top of my list now.

But that ain't the worst of it, there's a reason two names are listed on this report.

When BLADE HQ finally issued a kill order for this thing we were first in line to offer backup to a team of Skell equipped Harriers. Things were going well at first, we were avoiding being sucked into it's maw, dodging it's expelled stomach acids, shooting down it's 'spikes' it shoots out of it's body…until it's mate showed up.

Gesserith the Wileworm has an extra twenty meters on it's already huge boyfriend, and apparently they can use some sort of subsonic (potentially telepathic) call to attract the other. We ended up losing half our Skells before we called it quits and got out of there, accomplishing nothing except maybe lightly scarring Atreides when all was said and done.

Since these two will almost certainly have to be tackled together, and are insanely powerful on their own without their mates backup, they've been given the Overlord classification and should be avoided at all cost.

Only BLADEs traveling by Skell should be worried though. These two seem to ignore anything that isn't at _least_ Skell sized, as Humans and other smaller Miran fauna have travelled over it's territory with no issues, and in one spectacular case we even caught video of a herd of Ovis walking right over Atreides's exposed maw with no consequences. Wild.

Some BLADE armchair generals have considered bringing along a lot of jamming equipment if we're ever to tackle this particular duo on the theory that enough interfering 'noise' will cause their cry for help to get drowned out.

Hey, if they think it'll work then they can ride along in the passenger seat of my Skell when we go out on the mission. Otherwise I'm calling bullshit.

Yes, Julius, I'm saying your theory is bullshit. I hope you read this you stubborn, opinionated fool.

* * *

Vortice, The Deific Blast

Genus: Colubrim

Location: Cauldros, Mount M'gando

Report Author: Hector Birtwhistle, BLADE ID 0915

To begin this report I would like to advise against any BLADEs attempting to attack this creature no matter how strong they might think themselves to be. Even one as skilled as myself would consider aggressive action toward this being to be foolhardy in the extreme.

I first encountered this creature during a solo scouting mission to the Ganglion held continent of Cauldros. It had begun to rain ash and brimstone (as it is wont to do in that area) and I had taken up an observation post overlooking Mount M'gando. I will admit to being quite awed and humbled once I first laid eyes on the creature. Easily dwarfing the crater of M'gando I can only estimate it's length to be almost 290 meters, give or take an extra 5. Compare that to a normal Colubrim's 195 meters and we have quite the ravenous creature on our hands.

Thankfully once the sky had cleared somewhat the creature was nowhere to be seen, and further FrontierNav scans have only picked up rare sightings of the creature…usually before a group of Petramands or a solitary Vigent disappears from the map.

As for it's abilities, aside from it's impressive size, during the storm I could see odd loops of flame coiling around the beast, phenomena I can only grudgingly admit the creature was causing. It seems a safe assumption that it can also manipulate electricity similar to other Colubrims.

If we are to ever attempt to slay this creature I highly recommend we attempt to find it's resting place and ambush it as it sleeps with all available force. Colubrims are frighteningly quick at regenerating lost limbs and staunching their bleeding, so the quicker we can end a potential battle the better off we will be.

* * *

Pharsis the Everqueen, Phanatos the Netherlord

Genus: Yggralith

Location: Sylvalum, Noctilucent Sphere, Lake Ciel(?)

Report Author: Corwin Donahue, BLADE ID 0497

So the Yggraliths. Where to start with these monsters? Easily topping 300 meters in length, covered in scales harder than wurtzite boron nitride (that are also self-regenerating), capable of levitation due to the ability to manipulate gravity, and to a lesser extent, Ether. Also possessing insane physical strength and obvious intelligence, these are second only to Telethia in terms of sheer power here on Mira.

Heh, I remember when we first brought back news that Pharsis was hibernating (or resting, who knows?) inside the Sphere. I've never seen the Xenos in such a panic before. The Ma-non stepped up repairs on their ship triple time, the Nopon started to pack up their wares (to go where, I have no idea), so on and so forth. Even the usually unflappable Wrothians and Orpheans froze up in fear.

Apparently these critters are some kind of interstellar natural disaster that requires immediate evacuation of a planet if some sort of massive military response can't be organized. Seems they suck the Ether out of a planet's crust, causing a lot of the Ether dependent lifeforms to die off, causing a massive biological disaster, at which point they descend upon the planet itself and proceed to gorge themselves upon the more tangible biomass.

These two are likely juveniles, or at least close to it, since the largest Yggralith ever recorded, according to Ma-non testimonies, was 12 _kilometers_ in size. Holy crap.

So imagine the panic that came when we found another Yggralith out and about Sylvalum. Phanatos.

Oh boy there was a lot of Xenos changing their pants that day.

Thankfully Mira seems to have extremely high levels of natural Ether production so we don't have to worry about the two Yggraliths draining the planet dry or fighting each other over territory.

Ways to kill these things if we have to? Hell if I know. If we _do_ decide that these two beasts need to be killed I would recommend using several 'Superweapons' in conjunction with massive barrages of more conventional weaponry over the course of several minutes, or however long it takes to wear these things down. Anything else seems like a suicidal proposition.

* * *

Telethia the Endbringer

Genus: Telethia

Location: Noctilum, Divine Roost

Author: Cross, BLADE ID 2089

 _The Endbringer_. Well there's a fitting title if ever I've heard one. And that's coming from the guy who's had the dubious pleasure of running into this thing four times, more times than any other BLADE on Mira. My first encounter with this…being…was during a recovery mission in Noctilum that quickly went sideways. My team was cornered by three Sphinxes, Theroids that make Grexes look as deadly and lethal as newborn kittens. We'd barely managed to beat one of the things, and that was with Colonel Elma backing up our team.

Long story short the Telethia suddenly dropped out of the sky and proceeded to tear apart the Sphinxes with about as much effort as you or I would put into making a sandwich. When we're not even hungry.

The second occasion was during a mission we were given by a Nopon client to retrieve one of the Telethia's scales, a mission that in retrospect I wish I had never taken. We had gone in with four Skells, with only the intention of finding a cast off piece of it's skin and getting the heck out of there. Instead it confronted us head on and proceeded to beat us like a rented out speed-bag.

After wrecking our Skells but thankfully leaving us alive it seemingly decided we weren't worth the trouble and left to do it's business. The third time was during a search and rescue operation for several missing Orpheans. The mission was only mostly successful, as the various Dilus had already killed most of the Orpheans, and the Telethia _ate_ the last Orphean about three meters in front of me.

The fourth and final time I came within spitting distance of the Telethia was on a completely unrelated mission in the Divine Roost. Me and my team had been recovering a few Dilus pelts when all of the sudden the beast just landed about twenty meters away from where we were working and stared at us for about a good two minutes before flying off again.

I needed a new pair of pants after that.

All my repeated experiences with the Telethia have given me a cursory knowledge of what _might_ make it tick. Take all of this with a grain of salt.

The Nopon and L (a Miran local) tell of how the Telethia can read an opponents mind and predict both their intentions and movements. Normally I wouldn't lend this sort of tribal mumbo-jumbo much credence, but the Telethia has shown extraordinary ability to both dodge and predict attacks towards it, more so than any other creature on Mira.

There's also the matter of how every time I've encountered it it always seems to examine me before leaving, almost as if it's searching for something. Maybe not so much mumbo-jumbo after all.

On to the more tangible and practical side of things, the Telethia has astonishing levels of physical strength, it's hide is resistant to seemingly all sorts of Skell-class weaponry, it can freely manipulate Ether with seemingly zero effort, and has the odd ability to seemingly redirect certain kinds of energy on a whim, not too dissimilar to Go-rha mentioned earlier in this report.

There's some debate as to the Telethia's level of intelligence, with some merely believing it to be a clever, yet primal, predator while others (myself included) believe it to be _at least_ as intelligent as a Human, if not more so. Something about it's actions and behavior just seem to speak of a higher purpose in life, as well as the fact that it seems capable of calmly observing situations before making decisions about them.

As for trying to defeat this creature?

Forget it pal. Someone posted a bounty on Mission Control a few weeks back for the Telethia's head on a platter, and I can only assume they posted it as a joke. If you happen to have a buddy that thinks that it's at all possible to actually do the deed…instead of smiling and laughing at their bravery, grab them by the shoulders and shout, 'Good God man! Are you insane?!'.

You'll be doing them a favor, because the Telethia is so far beyond anything we currently have that believing we could kill it is wishful thinking, at best.

* * *

Disclaimer

After reading the after mentioned reports and their contents, BLADE command would like to remind everyone that the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect BLADE's own, and any inquiries should be directed to BLADE HQ.

 _Report End_

* * *

 **I had a lot of fun writing this particular extra, mainly because I got to fondly remember all the times the aforementioned Overlords pile-drived me into the dirt.**

 **When creating the list I went with Tyrants that were either the most memorable or most lethal during my playthrough of the game.**

 **I think my experience with Go-rha went much the same as everybody else's. 'Hey what's that cool looking statue in the middle of that lake? ( _Uncontrollable plays)_ OHCRAPITSAGIANTROBOTRUN-' dies in one hit. **

**Many hours of gameplay later...**

 **'Man the Ares 90 is so broken, I'm just one-shotting stuff now...Oh hey, lets go take out that Xe-dom Tyrant that was in Noctilum!'**

 **(Suicides after using Ageshuras)**

 **'OH CMON!'**

 **Barnabas was a right pain in my ass when exploring Oblivia before you get the flight module, and the first time I encountered him pretty much went like, 'Hey what's with the heavy footsteps behind me? Hey why's the Tyrant theme playing? Hey why's my character dead before I could even pan the camera around?'**

 **Atreides and Gessirith are actually my favorite pair of Tyrants just because there's so much buildup to when you decide to take them on. Before all you see is this giant lvl 70+ _Tremors_ reject jumping through the valley, and once you finally decide to take it on...lo and behold Bitch, _there's two of them._**

 **The other four should be in for obvious reasons really.**


	13. Chapter 13: Daily Life of a Celebrity

Finale: Daily Life of a Celebrity

There's seven of them in total, one Wrothian female, one Cavern Clan male, one Human female and four Human males. All of them have looks of complete concentration mixed with slight anxiety as they begin to spread out, obviously hoping to encircle me so that they can simply swamp me with numbers.

Pfft, good luck with that _amigos_.

Pushing off the ground with my right leg I spring towards the Prone faster than he was obviously expecting me to go, since his arms are out of position and I have a clear shot at his body. Not bothering with anything fancy I just lash out with a straight cross-punch (I promise I did not name it that) that sinks my fist into his gut and he makes a weird _borf_ noise as all the air and bits of spittle leave his mouth.

One down.

Throwing myself into a blindingly fast wheel kick I catch one of the Human guys off guard as he gawks at how quickly I put the Prone out of commission, the heel of my boot catching right across his ear and flattening him as if he just got hit by a truck.

His body bounces across the ground into the path of the charging Wrothian and she gives a short hop in order to clear the sudden obstruction.

Just a hair too slow.

I'm already moving past her by the time she's in the air and I use my stiffened left arm to crash into her ankles as I sprint past, turning her graceful jump into an uncontrolled tumble that ends up with her smacking her forehead into the floor with a dull _bonk_.

Three down.

The four remaining Humans have time to blanch as I dive right into their midst and get to work.

Quickly spinning toward the guy at my five o' clock position I launch into a _Bolo_ series of punches that he actually manages to block two of, before my third hammer strike catches him on the chin and he goes down with a grunt.

Obviously trying to take advantage of what he assumed was my distraction the guy directly behind me tries to tackle me from behind…just to catch my donkey-kick straight in the nads.

With a sort of darkly amusing squeak he drops to the ground like a brick, cradling his junk.

I almost feel sorry for him.

The remaining guy and girl wisely decide to come at me from parallel directions and launch a kick and punch respectively…which I smoothly flow around and latch my hands around their faces. I have the briefest glimpse of their eyes widening as they realize what I'm about to do before I exert myself and _slam_ their heads together with probably more force than was necessary.

They drop with nary a sound and I turn around only to hear…

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF…DAMMIT PEOPLE! You were facing off against _one guy_. You could have at least made him work for it a little bit! But no, you couldn't even last nine seconds!"

I sheepishly grin at Irina's tirade as the rest of the BLADE trainees are practically cowering at this point.

"I think they're all unconscious D.I., maybe you should wake them up first-"

She turns her actinic glare on me and my self-preservation instinct immediately advises me to back away slowly and _don't_ make eye contact. To my intense relief Irina just gives a heavy sigh and says, "Alright fair point. Capree, Johan! Wake those seven up."

The two younger BLADEs immediately hop to, obviously trained to follow Irina's orders as fast as humanely possible in order to avoid grievous bodily and emotional harm. I walk up next to her and cheerfully ask, "So how'd I do Ma'm? A good first-impression right?"

She gives me a look out of the corner of her eye that holds no humor in it…before relenting and giving a brief snort of mirth.

"Take a look at their faces, you'd think they just saw their favorite rock star."

I glance at the almost thirty BLADE trainees lined up behind Irina and notice almost all of them are looking at me with various levels of awe. Well it's nice to be appreciated.

* * *

It's been five months since I first returned to active duty BLADE work. In the past to months I've slowly done less and less field work, mostly taking on an instructional role in BLADE, teaching recruits and veterans alike about tactics, strategy and my more practical skill of how to punch things in many different ways.

It's pretty fun.

The news about the Lifehold and consciousness banks didn't go over to well though, as I expected. Once Chausson and the rest dropped _that_ particular bombshell half the city was in a panicked frenzy, people practically demanding answers point-blank from people who didn't really have any to give.

Two days of rioting and fear before BLADE managed to restore order and fill people in on what the actual deal was. Regardless, there was still eleven casualties (thankfully no Xenos) once all was said and done…a lower total than I had been pessimistically expecting actually.

Anyway people are marginally calmer now that they know we have a plan and a 'working' theory that I came up with on the spot. And put bluntly our plan is pretty much what we were doing before, essentially exploring every square-meter of this rock.

But hey, whatever keeps the masses from losing their minds.

* * *

"Holy Hell Celica you sure you shouldn't actually see a professional about this?"

She lazily murmurs in reply, "You'll do. Lower please…"

"As you wish milady."

Currently I'm engaged in an activity quite a few of the male population of the city would no doubt want to crucify me for, a full on massage of Celica's bare back.

Sorry guys, but no touchy.

That said, normally I would be hard pressed to actually focus on the massage itself, being rather enraptured by the feeling of her skin beneath my hands, but today things are a bit different…

"Sweet Mother Teresa woman, did someone slip a metal plate in your back?!"

"It's been a busy few days…and not all of us have the convenience of a bio-mechanical…Mmm…"

Whatever she was going to say is quickly overtaken by a moan of both pain and relief as my hands undo a particularly stubborn knot of tension. I shake my head as she sighs in relief and move on to her shoulder blades.

"You ever considered taking a few days off? In between the modeling and BLADE stuff you're probably busy 24/7, and that's not counting overtime."

"I chose to take on these tasks and I will not shirk them due to something as trivial as physical exhaustion."

"Your trapezius feels like it would beg to differ about the 'trivial' part."

"Well I'm lucky you're skilled with your hands then, aren't I?"

"Aw you're making me blush."

Suddenly flipping onto her stomach she stares upward at me showing off her body without a care in the world, a hungry smile on her face as she cutely asks, "Oh, so the blood is rushing to your head is it?"

That cute smile quickly turns into a lustful one.

"So which head is it, hmm?"

Ok, five months into this relationship and it _still_ catches me off guard how quickly she can turn on the innuendo. I mean, I'm sure as Hell not complaining or anything, but it never ceases to shock me regardless.

Letting a lazy grin come to my face I reply, "That's for you to find out…"

I flip her back onto her stomach, ignoring her exclamation of surprise.

"…After I finish making sure your back doesn't resemble a busted concrete road. Now relax and let me work."

She mumbles into the bed, "You're no fun…"

"That's not what I remember you shouting last week…"

She remains silent and I chock up this verbal sparring match as my win.

A few more quiet minutes pass as I continue my ministrations before she speaks up with, "So how are the plans for the wedding coming along?"

Unable to stop the massive smirk that suddenly adorns my face I gleefully reply, "They're coming along quite nicely, seeing as how I'm in charge of them."

"You would feel that way. I'm simply shocked the venue hasn't burnt down under your supervision yet."

I playfully bop her on the back of the head and cheerfully retort, "None of that now. I organized a city wide party event, I think it's well within my capabilities to make a nice little event for everyone where nothing blows up. Which is why Yelv wasn't invited coincidentally enough."

"A wise decision. How's Vi holding up?"

"The poor boy is a nervous wreck. All done by the way."

Sitting up she stretches in a glorious manner and then falls backwards into my waiting arms as I lean the two of us back against the bed's headboard. It's a fairly overcast day out right now, temperatures around fifteen degrees celsius with a decent breeze. With the windows and door to the deck opened it's rather chilly, making our close contact even more enjoyable as we share body heat.

Just one more reason why cold weather rocks and hot weather sucks.

As she snuggles deeper into my arms (still without upper body clothing, to my extreme delight) she continues our conversation with, "Has he decided on what the betrothal gift will be?"

"If he has he hasn't told me about it. Then again I think Wrothian custom states that only the soon-to-be husband is supposed to know what it is. We'll be finding out what it is right alongside Gu Ladha."

Sounding rather drowsy Celica replies, "Well I do love surprises…"

Hey no falling asleep now. I have work in half-an-hour and you can stay awake that long.

"Do Qlurians have similar practices to Humans and Wrothians? In terms of marriages and everything at least."

She gives a small laugh and says, "I think many of your more prudish people would be shocked at our custom. We didn't have…monogamous practices? Is that the word? Regardless, we had group marriages."

"Group marriages? How does that work?"

"Exactly like it sounds silly. Any people of age could become part of a family as long as all members consented. The average number of Qlurians in these arrangements was about four people although some of the larger families reached upwards of twelve people."

I give a low whistle.

"I bet relationship advisors made a _killing_ on Qlu…seriously though, that worked?"

"I don't remember too much to be honest, but it self-evidently did. My own family had six such parents and while arguments were common it never reached levels of actual anger and hurt. In fact you and Mia argue and bicker more than they all did."

I smile at the thought and quietly say, "They sound like a real riot to be around. I wish I could have met them…"

Sounding wistful herself she replies, "I think they would have liked you, despite your less than desirable personality."

I snort and we spend the next few seconds in silence.

I still want to have the last word though. Call me immature if you must.

Grinning lecherously I ask, "Erio and Lyvia are pretty into me, so if I wanted to include them in the marriage…"

She growls and says in no uncertain terms, " _All_ consenting members Cross."

Grinning at one of her rare displays of jealousy I continue with, "Just imagine though! All of the guys are already super jealous of me, just imagine the looks if I started my own harem of incredibly sexy alien babes-"

Her hand digs into my side and gives a painful twist and she threatens, "Not another word pervert."

Unable to hold in my laugh I gather her up in my arms and squeeze tightly, slightly mollifying her a bit.

I'd say victory goes to me this round.

"Don't you have something to do in an hour? Such as be a jerk somewhere else?"

Still grinning like the cat that ate the canary I answer with, "Maybe, but I have you all to myself for the next fifteen minutes…"

"Sometimes you manage to be a perfect fiend."

"I'm flattered."

We're both silent for a second before breaking into simultaneous laughs. Suddenly shifting in my arms she presses her chest against mine and locks eyes with me.

I like where this is going.

We both lean in closer…before Celica suddenly yawns in an adorable manner, looking mortified after she finishes.

I simply start laughing. I suppose I should be offended that my partner finds the prospect of sex with me yawn-worthy…but I'm really not. She's had a busy week.

Still smiling I pick her up and set her down astride a few of the pillows, pulling up some of the covers and commandingly say, "I think you need rest more than you need arousal."

A slightly grumpy look crosses her face and she mumbles, "Says you…" even as she sinks deeper into the mattress.

"You don't have anything planned for the day after tomorrow right?"

"Correct."

"Well I'll be done in half a day, so we'll meet up then. See if Rock is free and the three of us will do something."

"Hmm…no complaints here."

Smiling I stroke her hair and quietly say, "Sleep tight, I'll call you as soon as I'm done."

Her eyes are already closing as she murmurs, "I'll hold you to that…have a nice day."

Putting on the rest of my clothes I lock up the house and head out to the Outfitter's Hangar. Lin said today is gonna be a special day, and I don't wanna be late.

* * *

"You're late!"

"No I'm not, I'm exactly on time."

"Which means you're late!"

I sigh and ignore Lin's annoyed look as I glance around at the obstacle course that seems to have sprung up in this corner of the Hangar. There's two other groups besides ours using the massive building right now that creates quite the echoing clamor. It doesn't help that said groups are also testing Skell transformations, creating a constant symphony of shifting metal composites and whining servos.

"Look, Lin…I know it can be hard not being able to find a boyfriend in this city, but that's no reason to take your frustration out on-"

"Utter one more syllable and I'll beat you to death with this comm. And that's a _slow_ death."

I simply settle for a smug grin while she shakes her head and mutters under her breath, "Guy get's a girlfriend and all of the sudden he's a regular jerk bag…"

Deciding to offer her a lifeline I ask, "So what's the job for today? Field experiments for a new weapon? Stress testing armor? Finding out how many times I can bench press a Ma-non?"

Acting a bit more enthusiastic she perks up and happily says, "Even better…today we have the first two combined into one."

She leads me to a corner of the room where Veven, Tan'Celeg and Louis R. Damon himself, the C.E.O of Meredith and Co., have set up shop around a set of combat armor I've never seen before.

It honestly looks more ornamental than functional, with a golden color scheme, streaming filaments coming out of the back and an oversized helmet that looks like it'd be more useful as a sledgehammer than it would as a protective plate.

At least, that's my opinion until I walk around the back and see what looks suspiciously similar to the reactor housed on both the Vita and the Ares…

Damon catches my expression and grins ear to ear at my obvious confusion.

"Doesn't look like anything you've seen before eh?"

I shake my head in amazement and reply, "Nope. I'm still having trouble believing this isn't some elaborate costume piece I'm supposed to wear around the city. Does it have a name?"

"Not really, we're still in the testing phase so for now we're calling it the Plastron Mark-I. Imaginative, I know."

"So what's it capable of? If I'm going to be testing this I'd like to have an idea of what I'm getting into. Preferably before I do something that catches it on fire."

Veven excitedly joins the conversation with, "More like what can't it do! This suit is _super_ cool y'know?! Way stronger than any other, better weapons, better protection, and _way_ faster! It's, it's…just so _awesome!_ "

I glance at Damon and he sheepishly grins.

"We had a large budget."

I nod to the reactor housing and dryly reply, "No kidding. I've only seen a power source like that on the Ares and Vita Skells. Did you find a mini version lying around somewhere or is that one all your guy's doing?"

A proud smile adorns his face and he replies, "This is an NLA original, something we're _very_ proud of. We found a Ganglion blueprint attempting to replicate the Vita's reactor but to be quite honest building something of that scale is way too massive of an endeavor for us right now. So instead we thought smaller."

"And by all rights it seems you succeeded…it's not gonna blow up is it?"

Veven scratches the back of his head and hesitantly says, "Er…it shouldn't? Hopefully?"

"A ringing endorsement right there if I've ever heard one."

Tan'Celeg, ever the voice of reason, steps in with, "You needn't worry, there is a failsafe attached so that should the reactor ever proceed into overload territory it will automatically shut down."

"Leaving me stuck in an unpowered suit of armor, but at least in one piece."

He nods and readily agrees, "That would be the ideal scenario, yes."

Oh joy. I glance over at Lin who's obviously enjoying watching me hear about all the ways this could go wrong. As a matter of fact Damon seems to be having fun with this as well.

Mad scientists much?

Abandoning that train of thought I ask Tan'Celeg, "So just about _how_ strong is this suit? Veven was certainly hyping it up so now I'm curious."

"You are familiar with our newest Hunter Autosentry design? The Mark-III?"

"Yup, there was a big unveiling last week and I gotta say it's a _really_ nasty piece of work."

Which is actually kind of an understatement truth be told. The newest Hunter units are almost a quarter larger than the older designs and have _way_ more limb strength than the previous models. A Mark-III Hunter unit could rip apart my current Reginal Armor given a bit of time to work on it.

Scary stuff indeed.

The Orphean gives an acknowledging nod and merely replies, "This new suit can rend apart one of the Mark-III's with ease."

I give a low whistle and stare at the immobile armor with newfound respect.

"So what's on the agenda for the stress tests today? You've got me all psyched up to go wild with this thing."

The four of them share a glance that's equal parts malicious and gleeful, bringing my enthusiasm to a wary halt.

Damon grins sadistically and joyfully explains, "Well we've done all the necessary laboratory and safety tests, I think we can move on to field testing right away! How does a trip to Sylvalum sound?"

* * *

"Don't stop moving Tree fool! We didn't run all this way only to be eaten now!"

I angrily turn to Divana Yegur and gasp out, "Hmph! I could run…twice this distance…without trouble…you keep up…with me!"

The look she shoots me is both frustrated and amused, despite the danger we are in. That expression is quickly wiped off her face at the sound of an echoing howl that sounds throughout the canyon we are currently running through. She skids to a halt and holds out a hand in front of me before raising her rifle at the approaching horde of Caecuses _._ Almost fifteen of the loathsome beasts are stalking down the path, cutting off our escape route and leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. Whirling around I see that the two beasts that had been pursuing us earlier caught up, trapping us with no way out.

Heaving a defeated sigh I turn to Divana and say, "As it seems likely we won't make it out of this forsaken land alive…thank you for your aid regardless. I would never have expected such treatment from one of the Cavern Clan. You have my thanks."

She testily replies, "Save your thanks Mobar Tylan…but they are appreciated anyway. All I suppose we have left is to take as many of the beasts with us as we can."

A fitting epitaph. I heft the captured sword in my hands and prepare to charge until I notice the creatures halt their advance. Confused I lower the weapon slightly…only to watch the pack split apart to make way for one of their own that is almost twice the size of it's pack mates. Divana scowls and mumbles under her breath, "Truly cursed we are."

I find myself agreeing with her. That creature is called Andrea the Famished Hunter by the Humans, a fitting name considering it's oddly thin appearance. Not that it makes the beast any less imposing or dangerous however.

It seems we won't even be able to have the satisfaction of taking down the smaller creatures…

My rumination is interrupted by the sudden howl of Skell engines and the Caecuses all stop their advance to look up at the sky. Both Divana and I follow their lead and see a far off shape quickly diving towards our position. Before I'm even able to make out its details several bright muzzle flashes appear and the two Indigens that had been stalking us suddenly spurt blood as munitions tear through their bodies.

A split second afterwards several loud thunderclaps sound throughout the canyon as the noise catches up to us and the machine stops it's advance to hover almost a hundred meters above us. Looking closer I notice it's one of the Human's 'Lailah' class mechs with a striking black, red and green color scheme.

"Friend of your clansmen?"

I glance at Divana and warily reply, "Perhaps. I have not contacted them yet so they do not know of our escape…"

We had been broadcasting a distress signal on any and all frequencies we could reach but we hadn't actually expected anyone to reply. The Humans still had a small presence in Sylvalum and likely wouldn't put too much priority on answering a Ganglion distress call, especially one that was so far away from their main outpost in the South Ciel Sandsea. Luck seems to finally have favored us today…provided the Human decides not to finish us off regardless.

My thoughts are abruptly brought to a halt when the machine's cockpit suddenly opens and a figure leaps from the seat. My eyes narrow at the odd armor the figure seems to be wearing, a golden suit that has odd filament-like wings spreading from it's back and pointed spikes on it's helm and chest. It also has two strange sword shapes fanning across it's back with a long tube like gun centered between the swords.

The figure lands on all fours with a subdued crunch of displaced dirt and easily stands up, apparently not inconvenienced by the long fall. What is this Human planning?

The Famished Hunter evidently isn't amused in the slightest by the challenge and gives a warbling roar before charging headfirst at the figure. The armored Human doesn't move for almost a full second before lazily unlimbering the weapon on it's back and taking aim.

The charging Caecuses's cries are suddenly silenced as a mirror bright flash catches it in the throat and it's flesh disintegrates in a burst of smoke and ashes. A noise that is somehow managing to be both deafening and painfully sharp at the same time sounds from the Human's weapon as it rips apart the creature with terrifying ease.

After no more than a few seconds of firing the beast is badly recognizable and the Human smoothly re-holsters the weapon before staring idly at the remaining fifteen Indigens.

Divana and I are barely breathing, apprehension and hope mixing equally. If this Human is here to help us…

The remaining predators suddenly howl as one and charge the Human with frothing mouths, obviously convinced that they can overwhelm the figure with numbers.

Giving a disinterested shrug the Human suddenly draws the odd fan-shaped swords from it's back and with a flick of it's wrists the blades suddenly begin to thrum and glow with barely contained energy.

"It doesn't intend to fight them all like that, does it?"

I merely shake my head and reply, "I do not know. But what can we do but watch?"

Clearly not pleased by my words she raises her rifle and sights down one of the charging creatures anyway. She is a warrior. Standing idly on the sidelines doesn't suit her.

I turn attention back to the Human who has begun to calmly walk towards the oncoming horde without a bit of tension in it's gait. Is it that confident in it's skill or merely suicidal?

I needn't have asked.

The first Caecuses lunges forwards, jaws ready to snap the approaching Human in half…

…only for the smaller humanoid to seemingly blur as the sword in it's right hand flashes across the Indigen's face, exiting the side of it's neck in a shower of molten sparks and burning skin. Not breaking stride the armored being then practically blinks over to the second Caecuses and swipes it's leftmost blade across it's bowls, cleanly cutting it in half.

And that's just the opener. Diving into the mass of confused Indigens the Human proceeds to tear them apart in a display of elegant ferocity that leaves Divana and I speechless.

That armor…the weapons that cut apart the creatures with nothing but heat…the unshakeable confidence…

"A Skinwalker…" I breathe out, awed that I'm witnessing something I never thought I would experience in my life.

* * *

I think I'm in love.

This suit is _fantastic_. The speed, the strength, the weapons…NLA's mad scientists really outdid themselves with this particular piece of work. If I'd tried to pull this maneuver off with my old set of armor there's no way I could have just waltzed into a pack of angry critters and just started cutting them apart like this.

Before I even notice I've cut through thirteen of the beasties leaving two extremely wary Indigens circling me, obviously considering if I'm worth the trouble.

Making a snap decision I sheath the Candid and Credible Cutom Twins made by Veven and stand motionless with my arms at my side. Lets see how the suit does in hand-to-hand against an Indigen almost two or three times my size.

Growling the two Caecuses charge forward once I put away my weapons. Smiling I wait until the lead Indigen is within two meters of me…before I leap up and throw my leg into a blindingly fast side kick that slams into the things head and with a tremendous _crack_ sends it careening off to the side where it skids to a stop in a small cloud of dirt.

Pretty sure I just snapped it's cervical vertebrae right down the middle with that hit.

The last standing Indigen opens it's maw and dives forward in a move reminiscent of what Andrea tried to pull at the start of this. Not dodging I instead raise my arms and simply catch the approaching pair of jaws with barely any effort.

I didn't even get pushed back. Holy heck just how strong _is_ this thing?!

Putting the matter aside for the moment I instead decide to test my limits and physically _lift_ the struggling Indigen over my head…before throwing it as hard as I can against the canyon wall where it connects with a wet _crunch_ before bonelessly dropping to the ground.

…Like I said, I think I'm in love.

I'm _SO_ buying one of these if they ever make it to the market.

Doing a quick scan of the area I nod in satisfaction as all the Indigens seem to have either been wiped out or run off. I start heading in the direction of the Prone who are warily watching me as I approach.

Well, the Cavern Clan girl is at least. The Tree Clan guy is staring at me with something akin to awe, clearly not in any hurry to start shooting. Talk about a mismatched duo.

I send a signal to my Lailah and with a crash it lands on the ground and takes up a sentry position near the head of the canyon while I go to talk to the Prone.

Stopping about three meters away the Prone woman doesn't _quite_ have the barrel of her rifle pointed in my direction, but I'd still like to get through this without anymore fighting.

A few terse moments of silence follow before I decide to break the ice with, "So you're the ones who sent the distress signal right?"

She tersely nods and replies, "We were. Are you here to help or hinder?"

"Preferably help. Although you'll forgive me for being curious why a Cavern Clan and Tree Clan Prone duo are wandering the wilds of Sylvalum broadcasting a distress call on all channels."

She shakes her head and tiredly says, "Our outpost was overrun by a Vigent that must have decided we weren't a threat to it. Ever since our defeat months ago our mechanized forces have been almost nonexistent. Large Indigen attacks are now the norm rather than exception. This was just another case."

The male seems to shake himself out of it and quietly says, "She is not an enemy, Skinwalker, she was a fair captor and good leader, even to us slaves."

Well that's good to hear, it should make immigration back to NLA that much-

"Did you just call me a Skinwalker?"

He gravely nods and says, "I did."

Unable to think of anything intelligent to say I just sigh and move on with, "Since you two don't seem to have anywhere to go how do you feel about moving to NLA? We've got room."

The female looks at me skeptically and says, "And your leaders will just accept us like that?"

"Well you'll probably be asked a bunch of questions and all that, but our path to citizenship is pretty relaxed, to say the least."

The two of them share a glance and I smile inside my helmet.

Looks like we've got two more people joining our chaotic mess of a city.

* * *

"Well I'd say this field test was quite the home-run, now wasn't it?"

Lin doesn't quite manage to tear her eyes away from my combat footage and greedily replies, "Oh man I can't _wait_ to try one of these babies on for myself…"

"Hello? Mira-to-Lin? You in there?"

I poke her head a few times before she swats my hand away and happily replies, "I hear you, I hear you. And you bet your butt this mission was a success! Aw man compiling this and showing it to Vandham and the rest is gonna be so dang _fun_!"

Rolling my eyes in amusement I go ahead and finish writing up my after-action-report. Saving Divana and Mobar in addition to the field test had added to the complexity of my post-mission writeup but at least it had a happy ending for them. Last I heard they were well on their way to being accepted as citizens of NLA with only a few more debriefings to go.

Typing out the last few lines I lean back in satisfaction and let loose an enormous yawn before turning to Lin.

"Hey Lin, you ever been to a wedding before?"

She doesn't even look my way as she responds with, "Yup. Once when I was 11. One of my parent's coworkers got together with another colleague of his who was working on FrontierNav and they sent out a big invitation to the staff of both projects. I think that's the most dressed up I've ever been."

"And I'm sure you were breaking all the young boy's hearts even then."

She gives me an acid glare that only lasts for a moment before she starts laughing and replies, "Ok I'll admit it was pretty fun to watch all the guys just hitting puberty try to work up the courage to talk to me. Anyway what brought up that question? Worried about the upcoming shindig with Vi?"

"Pfft. As if. With me in charge of planning and coordinating _nothing_ can go wrong."

"That's not what Celica told me about your trip to Noctilum and the Simius…"

"THAT was not a fault of my plan. That was sheer planetary buggery and there wasn't anything I could do about that horny thing!"

She smirks and replies, "Well just try to keep it in your pants at the reception will yah?"

I lean back in my chair and heave a defeated sigh.

"I'm slowly but surely learning that arguing with a Woman is a dangerous game to play, with victory often being more expensive than defeat."

She playfully tweaks my nose and says, "See? You're adaptable. Seriously though Cross, you'll be fine. Just have fun and don't worry so much about the thing!"

I snort and amusedly reply, "Sounds like something Frye would say."

"Hey, even the Killer Ostrich has good advice sometimes."

* * *

I never knew shopping for a tuxedo could be quite so challenging, my poor preparation in all things fashion once again rearing it's ugly head. Thank God for Celica actually knowing what she's doing, otherwise I'd be going in my BLADE uniform.

"What do you think about this one Cross? Too bright or just right?"

Bringing my attention back to the here and now I'm treated to the utterly amazing image of Celica twirling around in a long crimson dress that makes her look like some olden war goddess, both beautiful and deadly.

I'm totally not drooling right now. I promise.

Finding my tongue I smile and say, "In my own humble and slightly uninformed opinion…I think you look stunning. The red really brings out your eyes as well."

She smiles at me and saunters over in a walk that makes it _very_ hard not to grin like a pervert. Getting right in my face she locks eyes and gently lays a kiss on my lips before critically eyeing my reaction. She suddenly grins widely and says, "I think I'll take this one then."

"Not that I'm complaining or anything but what pushed that one over the others?"

She winks back at me and happily replies, "Your reaction."

Oh. Guess I _was_ a little obvious in my 'critique' of her figure when wearing the dress. Oops.

* * *

After we finish paying for our outfits I swing by Deliverance Park where some Prone and Humans alongside Rock are just beginning to set up the awning and other furniture for the ceremony tomorrow. Deciding it couldn't hurt to take a quick look and make sure everything is going according to plan I go to chat with the coordinator while Celica goes over to talk to Rock. Thankfully everything seems to be going just fine so I amble on over to where Celica and Rock are animatedly conversing.

"Rock, you're more than welcome to come! Vi even specifically set aside room for you should you wish to attend!"

"Sorry Celica but we're just finishing up a new section of the Residential District and if I'm not there it's gonna be delayed for even longer. Don't worry, if we finish early I'll head right on over!"

I hold Celica's hand as she gives a defeated sigh and look up amusedly at Rock.

"There's such a thing as days off you know."

He toothily grins and replies, "Yah but I have a lot of fun working with Mr. Dalton and the rest. He always likes to say, 'if you enjoy what you do you'll never work a day in your life'."

"Alright but make sure you do head on over if you're done early, otherwise Celica is gonna take out her frustration out on me."

She shoots me an annoyed look out of the corner of her eye while I just playfully smile and squeeze her hand. She merely rolls her eyes but relaxes a bit, so mission accomplished.

"Alright Rock we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, we should probably get an early nights rest. Hopefully see you at the wedding!"

"Take care of yourself Rock, and be extra careful!"

He waves as we head off and says, "Don't worry about it, I'm always careful!"

Celica winces and turns to me with fire in her eyes.

"What's with that look?"

"He's starting to adopt some of your sense of humor. And that's _worrying_."

"Aw you're just jealous because he's looking up to me as a role model."

I'm not quite fast enough to dodge the slap that connects with the back of my head.

* * *

"Vi, you need to _calm down_. Seriously. With all that nervous energy we could probably power half of the city."

Zo Ozuchi snorts in amusement and relaxedly adds, "Listen to your friend Vi Leand. Your bride will likely not enjoy a groom who can't stop shaking long enough to properly display his gift."

Ozuchi and I are currently watching Vi frantically pace back and forth with a level of stress that would make a Ma-non think he's unstable. There's about another half-hour to go before the ceremony starts and I'm starting to wonder if his heart isn't going to implode before we reach the fifteen minute mark.

Looking to the two of us with naked panic in his eyes he frantically says, "Easy for you two to say, you're not the ones who feel unworthy of the mates you have! Am I really ready to do something as momentous as this?! Perhaps if I talk to her-"

"Vi! Take a deep breath man. Now if you'll permit me the opportunity to throw your own words back in your face…You have the opportunity to fall in love with a beautiful woman who loves you back, during a war that one day might claim one of your lives, and you don't want to proceed because you're 'scared'…you'll forgive me saying that that makes no sense whatsoever Vi Leand."

I raise an eyebrow at him and ask, "Sound familiar?"

He growls and mutters something under his breath before taking a shaky breath and saying, "Very well, I suppose it would be rather hypocritical of me to do exactly what I advised you not to."

"That's the spirit buddy! Now just remember, if you make a _single_ mistake during this ceremony it'll ruin the whole thing and haunt you for the rest of your days."

He glares at me with open murder in his eyes while Ozuchi and I just snicker.

* * *

Wrothian wedding ceremonies are what I've come to expect of their culture. Functional, traditional and strangely emotional. The whole thing starts with the two lovebirds walking towards each other from opposite ends of the pavilion and seating themselves two meters apart facing each other. Then the designated representative for each Wrothian will do the whole exchange of vows deal before the officiator, that's me, will physically exchange the gifts and then the actual festivities occur. During that time neither of the betrothed are allowed to physically touch or speak to each other.

Once the party is over though? I assume they immediately retire to their bedchambers and start throwing babymaker haymakers at each other.

There's a surprisingly large crowd of almost a hundred people gathered for the ceremony and I internally pray that I don't screw up my part otherwise Vi will never let me live it down.

Everyone from our squad is present with Julun, Mia and Celica seated in the front alongside Ga Jiarg and Ga Buidhe. I catch a glimpse of Elma, Doug, Irina and Gwin alongside some Wrothians and Prone I don't immediately recognize before I have to turn my attention back to the ceremony itself.

Vi and Gu Ladha both begin their walk down the aisles and I take stock of their appearance since this an outfit I haven't really seen any Wrothian wear before.

It vaguely reminds me if someone carved up a bunch of different colored bedsheets into a tasteful and elegant robe. Vi's is colored in shades of black, gold and red while Gu Ladha's is a dark grey tone with highlights of blue and gold. Whoever made those had a clue or three of what they were doing.

They seat themselves in front of me and I subtly signal with my left hand for the next phase to start. Zo Ozuchi and Bozé both begin to stride towards their designated positions besides their charges. I guess Gu Ladha didn't have any particularly close friends or relatives if Bozé's appearance is any indicator…or maybe she just really connected to him in the few months he's been her unofficial sensei.

Unlike everybody else Ozuchi and Bozé are dressed in their battle attire with Bozé wearing a crisp BLADE uniform decorated with his combat medals while Ozuchi is wearing his polished and resplendent battle armor. As the representative of each person I guess they're supposed to look the part.

Everyone quiets down and Ozuchi begins with, "Today I am here to represent Vi Leand, who wishes to take Gu Ladha as his mate and has brought a gift worthy of her to show his devotion and understanding."

Stepping back Bozé moves forward a step and clearly announces, "Today I am here to represent Gu Ladha, who has accepted Vi Leand's proposal to be his mate and has brought a gift worthy of her love and acceptance."

Short and to the point. I think I like it. Internally bracing myself I move to Zo Ozuchi and loudly say, "Representative of Vi Leand Zo Ozuchi. What gift has Vi Leand brought his future mate to demonstrate his love of her?"

Gravely offering me a Skell key he replies, "He offers the key to Ladha Calador, which he has personally seen to the repair and improvement of, and wishes it to be known that his mate is his equal, that they will stand shoulder to shoulder against the enemies of Wroth."

Gu Ladha's eyes light up at this and a radiant smile appears on her face while the Wrothian audience members murmur in approval.

While this probably wouldn't have gone over real well with a Human audience the way Ozuchi explained it to me this is a huge honor for Gu Ladha. Caladors are considered to be partners by their Wrothian pilots and to present one to another Wrothian is the highest form of compliment that can be paid. It helps that Gu Ladha just recently recovered full use of her arm and was about to return to active duty, having an upgraded Skell waiting for her must be a nice surprise gift.

Then there was the bit about her being his equal and how they would stand against any and all obstacles to their home planet. Put in Human terms that's basically an unbreakable vow that no matter what threat they find themselves under, they'll meet it together.

Again, in Human terms that may not sound so romantic…but to a warrior culture it's downright beautiful.

Hadning the key to Bozé I ask him, "Representative of Gu Ladha Bozé Lowes. What gift has Gu Ladha brought her future mate to demonstrate her love of him?"

Reverently pulling a wrapped box that was hanging off his shoulder and handing it to me he replies, "She offers an Ether crafted Longsword made by the finest smiths under her guidance, and wishes all to know that her mate is worthy of such a blade."

Slowly unwrapping the meter long tube I lift the lid off and barely manage to contain my gasp at the sight of the blade. I instead hand it to Vi and he slowly lifts the sword for all to see, his face enraptured by it's beauty.

Similar to a Japanese Katana it's roughly eighty cm of bright purple steel that glows with an ethereal quality to it. Fiendishly difficult to make these swords are known for being able to cut through damn near anything that doesn't have a significant ether coating of it's own. I sneak a glance towards Ga Jiarg and see him lightly smirking.

I shoulda guessed he had something to do with this. Those swords are expensive as Hell to make. Vi gently puts the sword back in it's casing and casts a grateful smile towards Gu Ladha. While maybe not as wordy as Vi's declaration it's still just as meaningful, for reasons quite similar to his.

With the exchanging of vows completed I turn towards the crowd and add a bit that Vi was happy to allow.

"Does anyone present have any reason to be against this union? Now is the time to speak or forever hold your peace."

Predictably nobody says anything. I mean c'mon.

Who could say no to these two?

* * *

"Well congratulations on surviving the single most terrifying moment of your life Vi. Feel better now?"

"Yes, although I'm sorely tempted to use my new sword on you for all the times you were deliberately terrifying me."

"Easy there tiger, consider it payback for all the times you were badgering me when Celica and I were dancing around each other."

The two of us are walking towards the party below as everyone is eagerly awaiting the two newly weds with plenty of smiles and congratulations in order while Gu Ladha is walking parallel to us.

Speaking of my Girlfriend she interwinds her arm with mine and gives Vi a friendly kiss on the cheek while trying and failing miserably not to gush out sheer joy.

"Congratulations Vi. Gu Ladha seemed to beside herself with happiness the entire time."

Julun snorts and archly replies, "She should enjoy her happiness while it lasts. Being mated to this Wrothian seems like a trial in patience. Almost as bad as being in relationship with Cross."

Mia and Celica both laugh while Vi and I act affronted.

Baring his teeth in a fake threat display Vi fires back, "I'll be sure to tell your future mate about all your womanly qualities…provided one can ever put up with you."

I deadpan and reply, "Careful Vi, you're one short jump of an assumption away from implying that the two of us are the only guys that can handle Julun."

Julun laughs and says, "You two are far too timid to be any mate of mine. I see Cross fold to Celica all the time."

Mia gives me a gloating look and says, "That's because he can't resist when she gives him puppy eyes."

Desperate to steer the conversation in any other direction but this one I throw out, "So I saw Doug and Elma in the back, are they finally at some level of sociability yet or are they still shy beyond all belief?"

"And just what do you mean by that Cross?"

I wince at the sound of Elma's voice coming from right behind me and scowl at everyone else's looks of glee at my ensuring embarrassment.

Thanks guys.

Plastering a smile on my face I turn around and greet both Elma and Doug as if I hand't just been bad-mouthing them.

"Long time no see you two, how are you doing these days?"

Elma fixes me in place with a glare before smiling evilly and pulling Doug into a kiss. A very deep, very tonguey kiss.

Wow. Guess I've been away for a while then.

Breaking away for air Doug raises an eyebrow at me and asks, "That answer your question?"

"It most certainly does. So what about the bedroom gymnastic-"

My question is cut off as Celica digs her nails into my side and twists, a dreadfully cheery smile plastered on her face as she says, "The two of us are very happy for you, aren't we Cross?"

I grit my teeth and tightly answer, "You bet we are."

* * *

Almost four hours later the sun is just beginning it's final descent through the sky and most of the party guests have left to be on their way. All in all I'd say it had been a heck of a party. Vi and Gu Ladha had left almost an hour ago, no doubt cleaning the cobwebs with the womb broom by now.

Celica yawns and wraps her arms around my neck in an even tighter hold than she had before and murmurs, "Are we home yet?"

"Sheesh some party animal you are. Let me guess, you didn't give yourself enough time to properly rest before heading to this thing and wore yourself out? And maybe had a drink or five?"

"…Maybe?"

I roll my eyes and half-heartedly reply, "And you accuse _me_ of having self-destructive tendencies."

I walk on over to where Rock is helping disassemble some of the pavilion and ask, "You wouldn't mind helping out your drunk older sister would you Rock?"

"I'm not drunk! Just slightly tipsy…"

Rock chuckles and says "Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Do you want a ride back too Cross?"

I briefly consider it but make a snap decision and reply, "Nah, I'll be along shortly. Just make sure Celica doesn't get lost or anything. I'll see you later pal, glad you could make it tonight!"

I give Celica a brief goodbye kiss and slyly murmur in her ear, "I'll be sure to tease you ruthlessly about this. Hope you're ready for it…"

She mutters something that sounds suspiciously like 'jerk' before Rock picks her up and sets her on his back.

"I'll see you around Cross, take care!"

He waves before thumping off into the twilight and I take a glance towards the sky before letting my feet carry me to my destination.

* * *

If I stop to think about, a year and a half seems like an abnormally short amount of time to have experienced as much as I have. Learning about Earth's fate, slowly becoming my own person, meeting all of the people I call friends in this city, bringing down an interstellar crime syndicate that's been hounding Humanity through the stars, Learning about my past in all of it's lousy glory, finally beginning a relationship with Celica and learning just how comforting it can be to have someone you trust and love beyond any form of description…and finally watching one of my closest friends get married.

I guess the enormity of everything that's happened to me caught up and I ended some time to myself tonight.

Which would explain why I'm sitting here on top of the Ma-non ship, staring up at the clear night sky with all of it's shimmering stars and just thinking.

I don't really like having these moments of melancholy and nostalgia. Apart from the fact that it feels weird for someone who's only like a year and a half old to experience _nostalgia_ of all things…I feel like I'm overthinking things, simply unable to truly appreciate what life has given me and constantly wondering about what _might_ have been.

Or maybe everyone has these moments. I don't frickin know.

Well at times like this I simply fall back on a saying coined by a guy a lot smarter than me.

"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

Thanks Bil. It helps.

Heaving a sigh and shaking off my mood I smile and walk back towards the teleporter.

If I'm only going to get one life I might as well make the most of it, and I'll start by going home and making sure my slightly wasted Girlfriend hasn't passed out on the couch or something like that.

Heck, what more could you want from life?

* * *

 _There was a new shift in priorities for this world's Overseer that had to be addressed. For 56,764,839 seconds and counting it had been watching the sudden arrivals on this Bulwark World and attempting to reach a conclusion about what action should be taken._

 _Results had been…inconclusive._

 _While the myriad biological lifeforms had all passed the necessary criteria to be allowed safe passage to this world they were hardly unified in purpose. Instead they constantly fought and killed both each other and the other lifeforms already present on this world for no immediately apparent reason._

 _The Overseer had been sorely tempted to breach protocol and directly examine the gathered consciousnesses of these beings but it's programming was extremely strict in that regard._

 _The ensconced minds are_ not _to be touched under any circumstances. Thus, more direct examinations would have to take place. Unfortunately this might potentially lead to the very result the Overseer wished to avoid, an armed conflict with the new arrivals on this world. Past experience showed that biologicals rarely reacted peacefully to the overall goals of the Bulwark Worlds and would resist with all their might._

 _Thus it was with equal parts indifference and trepidation that the Overseer began to activate the hidden Enforcers located all across the Bulwark World in the event that negotiations between it's envoys and the biologicals broke down._

 _It's overriding goal_ would _be accomplished, whether the Overseer had to interpret it's directives liberally or not._

* * *

 **And with that we come to the 'true' ending of Xenoblade X Interim.**

 **While I'm currently working on another story and have realized that simultaneously working on two at once is NOT my style, I have every intention of making a sequel after I complete that project that will definitively wrap up Interim.**

 **I was originally having trouble deciding where I wanted the sequel to end up but one day I had a stroke of creative brilliance (or maybe it was just a stroke, I dunno) and spent about 30 minutes creating a brief but overarching plot that would have left me satisfied if I was reading this story as if it wasn't my own. Hopefully everyone else will share that same opinion :D**

 **Two quick asides: The noise Cross's gun I tried and miserably failed to describe is similar to the chemrail from the film Elysium. If you're curious about what it _actually_ is supposed to sound like there's probably a clip of it out there somewhere.**

 **The last aside is something that I wanted to add but kept forgetting everytime I updated this story the past few weeks. One of my inspirations during the writing of this story was a video on Youtube that did a _phenomenal_ job of going in depth about the varied wildlands of Mira...and it only has 3,500 views last I checked as opposed to my story's current 5,000.**

 **THAT IS A CRIME. Here's a link,**

 _watch?v=WW0HByxOM8I_

 **now go watch that video and give the poor man the views he deserves.**

 **Well that about sums it up. Big thanks to everyone who sat down and read through this thing and big thanks to those who reviewed, I never expected people to enjoy this story as much as they did.**

 ** **Classic Mecraphone, out****


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